Green As A Dragon
by eziofan09
Summary: The Riders are called to help a Chief in need, Hiccup meets the Chief's daughter and Astrid doesn't like it, the gang must now protect a young woman, solve a mystery stop a war before it starts all while Astrid must finally admit to herself the connection to hiccup isn't just friends
1. Chapter 1

**Hey always loved HTTYD, thought i'd give it a shot, this has been written on a bus everyday for two weeks, if you are following my other stories i haven't abandoned them, just been changing jobs and havent had time to work on em, they're coming my lovelies, patience, i do not own HTTYD or the Characters we all know and love**

 **Chapter 1** \- The Call for Help

The Great Hall of the chief of the Hardhead Tribe shook with the loud screaming of a young girl who was running from her bed chamber, Hardhitr the chief and father to the young girl ran from his own bed chamber and caught her in his arms

'what is it my child?' the talk bulky blonde Viking with a forked beard asked the young girl as he stroked her light brown hair,

the girl Friga, was tall slender and wrapped in a fur blanket 'he was back father, the man he was stood outside my window again' she sobbed,

'GUARDS' Hardhitr shouted, the hulking Vikings appeared from the end of the hallway, 'the man has been spotted again, search the town find him, NOW'

the two vikings nodded and drew their swords, together they ran down the corridor almost knocking over a Trader who was sleeping in the Hall by the graciousness of the Chief

'what on Earth is all the noise about' Trader Johann said as he cracked his neck

'sorry Johann, we've been having problems of late, someone is stalking my daughter, he always seems to slip away unnoticed'

'by my beard, this reminds me of the time when a cat burglar climbed the wall of a persian palace i was staying in and stole the Sultan's great gem, i was actually there to...'

'Johann' Hardhitr held up his hand, 'while i appreciate a good tale of travels, now is not the time' Hardhitr motioned to his daughter who was still silently weeping into her fathers chest,

'of course' Johann said, he put a hand on Friga's shoulder, 'do not worry m'lady, your father's guards are some of the best i have met, with the exception of one group i happen to know of course, now if they were watching you, oh your little stalker issues would all be sorted'

the girl lifted her head from her father's chest and looked at Johann, 'really?' she asked, Hardhitr too seemed interested in the group

'who are they, are they mercenaries or soldiers' he asked,

Johann shook his head 'oh no they're neither, they are some of my finest customers and closest friends if i do say so, they're the Dragon Riders from Berk'

'The Dragon Riders?' Hardhitr's daughter asked, her wet eyes went wide in wonder

'yes, i've heard of them, Stoick's boy leads them, but they're traitors, throwing their lot in with Dragon's and making peace with that raiding vile bastard Alvin, i will not turn to traitors for aid,

'but father' Friga said, 'if they could help'

two guards ran up to Hardhitr gasping, 'sorry chief, the little bugger...got away again' Hardhitr Growled,

Frigga grabbed his face in her hands, 'father, please, i can't carry on living afraid all the time' the fear in his Daughter's eyes made Hardhitr nod slowly

'Johann, you say you know these Riders, can you get word to Berk?' he asked,

Johann stood and stroked his moustache as if thinking it over 'well it would mean sailing to berk that's two days in the opposite direction on my trade routes, it would require some small compensation for loss of earnings'

'i'll pay anything, just get those riders and Stoick on my island by the week's end' Hardhitr demanded

 **On Dragon's Edge**

Sunrise swept over Dragon's edge, the Night Terrors swarmed in a circle over the camp, Fishlegs sat meditating in his rock Garden, Tuffnut and Ruffnut were in the middle of a who can get hurt if we run right at each other and headbutt competition, Snotlout lay asleep sucking his thumb while gently mumbling Astrid's name, Astrid herself was throwing axes at barrels, her concentration was broken by a loud clanging and laughter followed by Tuff shouting 'i win, that really hurt', Astrid groaned lightly as she picked up another axe, she barely missed the center of the bullseye, groaning again, she picked up another axe and hurled it

'stupid Hiccup' she growled as she just missed again, Stormfly sat preening herself not to far away, Astrid looked at her Dragon, 'oh don't worry Astrid it's only a day trip i'll be fine' she screamed imitating Hiccup's nasally voice, she furiously grabbed her last axe and imagining Hiccup to be standing infront of the barrels landed a perfect shot, 'good' she said smiling, she walked to Stormfly and said

'and you know what gets me, i'm supposed to sit here and wait, everytime he goes off alone he gets in trouble, he goes after Snotlout and ends up stranded on Outcast Island, he goes looking for treasure and gets himself buried alive and don't even get me started on that time he thought it would be a good idea to take on a Screaming Death alone'

Stormfly stared confused at her and Astrid just growled, 'when will he stop going off alone, out here there's no one but Dagur and his fleet just waiting anywhere possible to capture him' Astrid stood pointing at Stormfly and the Dragon gave up trying to understand the problem so just lay her head on the ground and closed her eyes

'you see, even you're tired of this' Astrid said and she looked up at the sky, Hiccup and Toothless weren't back yet from a simple trip to find a new lens for the Dragon Eye, Hiccup had said it would be easy, but he should have been back before last night and she had sat up all through the night waiting for them,

Asrid crossed her arms and sat on a rock, Odin he could be so dense and stubborn, if he wasn't her friend she would have axed him years ago for being so brave,

' _no, not brave, foolish_ ' Astrid thought, a shadow crossed over her and she shot up straight 'Hiccup' she called hopefully

'no, sorry...i just thought you would like breakfast' Fishlegs said as he held out a plate of eggs and bread

'oh...uh, right thanks' Astrid took the food and sat back down,

Fishlegs cautiously sat beside her 'he'll be fine Astrid, the island we found in the Dragon Eye was the one full of daisies and unless Hiccup gets Hayfever, he should be back soon'

Astrid knew that already, she knew it wasn't dangerous, but danger always found a way to find Hiccup when it wasn't anywhere to be found, what she didn't know was why this was so hard, Dagur was out there and Hiccup had outsmarted him more times than Astrid had punched Snotlout, so why was the thought of him being gone making her feel so edgy,

Astrid ate her breakfast and stared at the sky, it had started since Heather had asked if she and Hiccup were a thing, which was ridiculous, her and Hiccup, she put her plate down and pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms round her knees, unbidden a memory sparked in her mind, when she sat with Hiccup on that beach after they had got through the fog bank, she remembered liking sitting with him and talking bout what their plans were next, it was nice,

Fishlegs nudged her shoulder 'Astrid, it's Hiccup'

she looked up and saw Toothless hovering over them, Hiccup sat in his saddle smiling, even though Astrid liked Hiccup's smile especially when he pointed it at her, he very sight of his stupid face, showing joy when she had been so afraid, fired her temper up again

'HICCUP' she growled,

Toothless landed and Hiccup jumped off his back, 'hey guys' Hiccup said

Astrid was sure Fishlegs was saying hello back but all Astrid did was storm right over to him 'where have you been' she screamed as she drew her arm back and punched his arm hard as she could,

'wha...ow, hey...it's nice to see you too' Hiccup said, as the force of the punch knocked him backwards and into Toothless, who groaned loudly

'you should have been back yesterday' Astrid crossed her arms and waited for his explanation

Hiccup held up his hands 'whoa ok, i know i'm sorry, but it took a little longer to find the lens then i thought' Hiccup dug into is saddle bag and drew a small box out, 'which i did by the way'

the three young Vikings were then joined by the twins and Snotlout, Tuffnut was walking haphazardly and smiling widely, 'hiccu...back...good...eggs'

Hiccup looked at everyone 'is he okay' he asked

'morning headbutting got outta control' Ruffnut said laughing as her brother passed out at their feet

'uhhhhh, okay fine' Hiccup said 'anyway, i got the lens, Fishlegs take it to the Dragon Eye, see what you can find out'

Fishlegs clapped joyfully as he took the small box with the lens 'right away Hiccup'

Astrid grabbed Fishlegs before he could leave, 'NOT YET' she yelled, she pointed at Hiccup 'you owe all of us an explantion, where in Helheim's Gate have you been after you got the lens

'no he doesn't, i didn't ca...' Snotlout said before Astrid glared in his direction and changed his mind 'yeah where have you been' Snotlout said faking anger

Since all eyes were now on Hiccup he went back to his satchel and pulled out his sketchbook

'well, when we got to the island, the Lens was hidden in some caves

the entrance was too small and Toothless couldn't get in and i didnt wanna risk blocking the entrance or causing a cave in'

' _at least he got that right_ ' Astrid thought

'so, i thought i needed a torch, couldnt find any wood, but i found a rod of metal on the beach, i dried it and dipped it into the Monstrous Nightmare Gel i brought to make a fire and when i was in the cave i got surrounded by bats and the torch came in handy then and after i got out it was dark so i decided to camp for the night and thought how useful the torch had been, so i started thinking and drew this.

Hiccup opened his sketchbook and held it open for them to look, a design showed a sword with flames coming off it

'a sword, you were drawing a sword' Astrid said incredulously

'a flame sword, oh you're gonna coat it in Monstrous Nightmare gel aren't you' Fishlegs said happily

'why is there gas coming out of the bottom of it' Snotlout asked,

Hiccup smiled the way he usually did when he was explaining one of his ideas 'do you remember when Gobber tried to open the Dragon Eye and that gas came out i was thinking if i could use Zippleback gas and copy that somehow, that would make a pretty good weapon'

'AWESOME, can i get one?' Ruff asked,

Astrid admitted the weapon seemed like a good idea and that made her even angrier, why did he do this be so brilliant when she was trying to find reasons to throttle him, her attention was diverted by Fishlegs saying

'hey Hiccup, is that Sharpshot?' as he pointed over the sea to a small dragon flying directly at them,

'yeah' Hiccup said, 'what's he doing here, he shouldn't be coming back'

Hiccup held out his arm and Sharpshot landed on it effortlessly, 'hey boy, watcha doing here' he said as he stroked the Terrible Terror's chin,

'Hiccup, there's a note' Astrid said as she untied a note on the Dragon's side, she unrolled a scroll

 _Hiccup,_

 _we need you and the Riders back here on Berk as soon as you can, we've received word the Hardhead Tribe needs your help_

 _Stoick_

The Riders looked all looked at Hiccup, 'the Hardhead Tribe?, they're not enemies but they arent friends either' Fishlegs said

'I know Fishlegs, but it must be important if they want our help' Hiccup let Sharpshot fly off, 'guys, pack your gear and seal your huts, Fishlegs hide the Dragon Eye in that cave at the peak of the cliffs, Snotlout seal the clubhouse and Ruff...wake Tuff up, we leave in one hour'

'Right' the Riders all chorused

Astrid stared at Hiccup who looked nervous, 'uhh Astrid, i'mm gonna change my shirt, see you back here in an hour' Hiccup quickly turned and ran heading to his hut

'you don't get off that easy' she growled and followed him

 **There's Chapter 1, if you like it let me know Chapter 2 will be up ASAP Laterz**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Mission

**Here's Chapter 2, sit back, read, wear a smoking jacket and don't forget to review :)**

 **Chapter 2** \- **The Mission**

Astrid ran right up to Hiccup's hut, Toothless sat outside scratching his stomach with his back leg, he stood sharp when she approached, clearly he felt her temper and decided she could be a threat to Hiccup,

'don't even try it Toothless' she warned, the Dragon sat back and his eyes went wide 'good boy' she strolled up and scratched under his chin, Toothless purred softly and collapsed limp on the ground at her feet 'don't worry, i'm not gonna kill him...yet' she walked round the Dragon and shoved the front door open,

'Hiccup, you and i need to...' she froze at the sight infront of her, Hiccup was stood with his shirt lifted up over his head and Astrid found herself staring at his bare chest 'whoa' she whispered, she had never seen him shirtless before, he had pecks and abs, not huge ones but gods they were there,

'Astrid' Hiccup's voice came from the shirt he stumbled backwards and fell hard on his back, as he struggled with the shirt Astrid looked around the room in an attempt to not stare at his chest again, she saw his spare prosthetics and a new one lying on a table, she found it fascinating, she picked it up, it was a single thin piece of metal with a hook shaped at the bottom, it was just plain iron so it wouldn't take his weight and wouldn't be much good for balance, the design for the new leg lay on the table she picked it up and saw 'turn for second support' written on the paper, she turned the leg and a second piece of metal sprung and out clicked onto the first, it would offer more support but it was still too thin,

'ahh Astrid' Hiccup asked, she nearly dropped the leg and turned back to look at him, luckily his shirt was now covering his chest

'oh yeah, uhhh' she placed the leg back on the table trying to remember why she had come into his hut, but all she could think about was how much she had wanted to touch his chest and feel how hard it was, she shook her head and crossed her arms she remembered now,

'do you realise how scared i was, you can't run those risks out here, even if it was dark you should have flown back to the Edge, what if Dagur's fleet had seen your fire and we couldn't have helped' she yelled

Hiccup held his hands up 'yeah ok you're right, i'm sorry, it was a risk i shouldn't have taken' he looked at her so sincerely and regretfully, she felt her anger dissolve away, it was helped of course by the thoughts of his chest under his shirt

'ok...good, do you think it was necessary to seal the camp down?' she asked, looking for any kind of conversation

Hiccup shrugged, 'i dunno, but if the Hardhead's want our help, it must be pretty bad and we could be gone for awhile better to be safe'

' _and where was that thinking last night_ ' she thought, she nodded and said, 'what d'you think they need our help with?'

Hiccup shrugged, 'i dunno, i'm thinking of everything from a Red Death nesting on their island to the Screaming Death showing up again, either way we better be ready'

Astrid agreed, 'ok, i'll see you in the main clearing then, i need to go sixpack...pack for the journey' she corrected quickly, hoping he hadn't noticed her slip of the tongue

'ok...' Hiccup said, 'before you go though' Hiccup walked up to her

' _oh Thor_ ' she thought, ' _is he gonna_...' Hiccup started to lean down...and reached behind her, ' _phew_... _but why didn't he try to kiss me_ ' she thought, the closeness made her head spin, it was practically impossible for her to resist reaching a hand out and touching his chest now it was so near,

'what do you think about this' he asked as he leaned back and held up the new prosthetic 'i'm getting too tall now for my old one, thought it was time i made those tweaks'

Astrid looked at it again 'i think it's a better idea than your flight suit' she joked,

he laughed with her and pulled a fresh piece of paper out, 'i'm gonna bring it back to Berk, i need to give these designs to Gobber for a new harness and saddle for toothless' he placed the design and leg on his bed and set about looking for something, 'i just need that chest to pack them, can you see that small chest of mine here anywhere'

' _it wasn't so small from what i could see_ ' she thought 'no, sorry i gotta go pack, see you in bout an hour' and quickly she walked out the hut and slammed the door shut behind her,

'wow' she mouthed

Astrid realised her heart was beating faster than usual, that was strange, Hiccup never made her heart race, it usually speed up a little bit but only a little, nothing strange about that, she set off away from his hut and headed towards hers, she noticed something else strange, her hut was alot closer to Hiccups than before, neither hut had moved, but it felt alot closer than usual, she shrugged and went into her hut to pack,

she quickly stuffed, her extra shoulder pads and a spare pair of trousers and top into a bag, she dug through her weapons, of course, her axe was coming with her, she dug through her small weapons and found the two daggers Hiccup had given her when they last went back to Berk, it was before Heather appeared with Windshear, she held up the identical daggers and heard Heather's voice in her head

' _you two are a thing right_ '

she shook her head, 'no' she whispered, her and Hiccup, sounded silly to even say it, besides, he was a chief's son, tradition would dictate he marry a daughter from another tribal chief, like the Hardhead's, she dropped the daggers now, was that what this was, was Hardhitr lying to them just to get Hiccup and his daughter together, the heir to the throne of Berk and the daughter of the Hardhead's would be a good match in anyone's eyes...except hers, what did this woman know about Hiccup, who the hel was she to marry Hiccup, she couldn't know how great he was, not because of all he had done, but because he was just a great man, the kind of man any young woman would want to be with,

'GRRRRR' Astrid growled and threw her bag across her hut, the evil Syren, trying to manipulate Hiccup and take him away from her...' _whoa...where did that come from_ ' she thought, Hiccup wasn't hers to be taken from, she shook her head

'Heather, you silly woman, you got me thinking crazy things' she laughed to herself, it was all too silly to think about, she picked her bag up and stuffed her daggers into it, she threw the bag over her shoulders and left her hut locking it and setting a trap with an axe over the door.

 **BERK - One Day Later**

Stoick the Vast walked through the village, Spiteout, Bucket, Mulch and (not so) Silent Sven followed, he kept his eye on the sky waiting for the sign of the Riders approaching, nothing but the Berk Guard doing early morning drills on their Dragons,

thinking of Dragons, Stoick looked at Skullcrusher, who stood across the village square, while Gobber gave a lesson to the children of the Village about Rumblehorns, Gobber had taken over Fishlegs' duties of teaching in his absence 'GOBBER' he shouted,

Gobber looked up from the group of kids and waved, 'sorry kids, back in a jiffy, you can stroke Skullcrusher while i'm gone' Gobber said as he walked away from group

'good day Chief, hows it going' Gobber asked as he reached Stoick

'it'll be a better day when Hiccup gets here, which is why i wanted to talk to you, did you finish the item i requested?' Stoick asked

'yep, took most of the night, but i sent it up to the Great Hall this morning, good thing i found the correct mixture of rocks for Gronckle iron finally'

'good, Hiccup will need it' Stoick saw Gobber's face fall slightly 'what is it he asked'

Gobber scratched the back of his neck 'well... you know Hiccup is not gonna take this well Stoick, i know how Hardhitr feels it's his child in danger and i'd call for the best kind of help if i were in his position, but...'

'yes Gobber, i know, but he's not gonna have a choice' Stoick said, 'i'll explain it rationally and if that doesn't work i'll order him to do it'

'you're the Chief' Gobber said with a shrug and he walked off to rejoin the class, who were trying to climb up into the saddle 'oi, you lot get down from there, if your parents see you in the sky, my head will soon be joining ya' Gobber yelled.

Stoick and the council continued up towards the Great Hall,

'Spitelout, did you double patrols like i asked' Stoick looked at Spitlout, who nodded

'ai Chief, got some of my best men on it'

Stoick nodded 'good, what about the Sentries, we need as many as far out as the fog bank'

'oh i wouldn't worry about that' Spitelout said, 'there is...someone out that far, not far enough for my liking, but i'm sure we will hear back if the Hardhead's make a move and if not, at least he's as far from me as he can get, gods thank you Odin' Spitelout said with more gratitude than Stoick had ever seen him show

Stoick would have asked who Spitelout was talking about, but didn't, he didn't very much care who it was, his bigger concern was the Hardheads, they were a difficult tribe, never aggressive, unlike the Berserkers but more than ready for a fight and capable of fighting hard, Stoick didn't much fancy war against them and if they were extending a hand he had to shake it, he just needed Hiccup back here

'hurry up son, we need you' he said keeping his eye on the horizon.

The soft wisps of the Fog bank at the edge of the Archipelago was disturbed as five Dragons flew through in a V formation, Hiccup lead the way 'home sweet home' he said as the familiar Peninsula and rock formations came into view,

'another hour and we should hit Berk before sundown' Fishlegs yelled from behind him,

'let's put on some speed, see if we can hit land earlier' Hiccup ordered,

Toothless obliged and soon the group were soaring high over the seas at full speed, the journey was easy apart from having to dive to avoid a flock of Timberjacks with young and one overly inquisitive Scauldron, although Ruff had been to blame for that she seemed unable to believe it wasn't Scauldy, until it spat a stream of boiling water at them, half an hour had passed and they passed over a small island signalling their entrance into Berk's shipping lanes,

'alrite, pull back, we keep going full speed the Dragons won't make it to Berk before sundown' Hiccup shouted and just as he did a fireball exploded just off to his left side, Hiccup barrel rolled to the right and avoided the explosion, roaring loudly he turned and Hiccup saw a Monstrous Nightmare sat on a small island, which seemed to be the culprit, it took off and flew towards them, 'evasive manoeuvres' he shouted as the Nightmare soared past him with a rider on it's back, one who was crying out in a familiar voice

'SOOOOORRRRY'

'GUSTAV!' Hiccup yelled,

'GUSTAV?' Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins all gasped

Gustav flew circles around Astrid and Stormfly, 'hey babe did you miss me' he shouted as he dove to avoid a sweep from Stromfly's tail,

'Gustav, down now' Hiccup yelled, together all six dragons soared down to the little island once they had all landed, Hiccup jumped off toothless and stormed over to Gustav

'Gustav, what are you doing out here and why are you shooting at us' Hiccup asked

'sorry' Gustav said like it was no big deal 'but i'm on Sentry Duty, i joined the Berk Guard' Gustav said proudly, Hiccup however was only confused,

'you?, i mean...you joined the Berk Guard' he asked,

Gustav nodded 'oh yeah me, Gustav' he pointed to himself

'that's...uh great, good for you'

'yeah after i told Spitelout, i was as good as one of you guys, he just lapped me up, told him everytime i saw him, made it my daily business to tell him at least twenty times before breakfast, took him the better part of four weeks till he finally realised what he was missing out on'

'i'll bet, four weeks, must have been a long time' Hiccup said.

Gustav nodded, 'so he told me everyday i had to fly out here and stay on this rock all day to watch for danger, sorry bout the shooting thing by the way, but i gotta do my duties'

Hiccup could hear the snickering from the Riders behind him him,

'well that's great Gustav, good for you, just uhh, make sure next time, we better get going, my dad is waiting for us'

but Gustav wasn't listening to him, he walked past Hiccup and leaned against Stormfly 'hey Astrid, did you know as a member of the Berk Guard, i can get you the freshest Yak Jerky on all of Berk' he smiled widely at her and Astrid only groaned and Stormfly simply raised herself high on her legs and Gustav slipped sideways and hit the ground hard,

'i get it, you prefer boar jerky, i can do that too' Gustav said as he pulled himself up,

'ok, see you later Gustav we better get going' Hiccup climbed back onto Toothless

'hey Hiccup, if you like i could come with you to help out with the Hardhead's' Gustav asked

'NO' the Riders all shouted,

'no Gustav, you got an important mission of you're own and you're doing great at it, just uhhh...keep up the good work, we'll make sure Spitelout keeps you on this duty' Hiccup said,

Gustav smiled 'oh yeah Gustav, protector of Berk...and still single' he winked at Astrid who shuddered

'kid, back off, she is spoken for' Snotlout said proudly flexing his muscles and ducking quickly as a single spine shot flew from Stormfly's tail,

Hiccup and Toothless shot up into the sky and the Riders followed them

'i'm jealous' Tuffnut said as he crossed his arms, Ruffnut agreed 'yeah, Spitelout ordered us to stay up in the peaks over Berk when we tried to join the Guard, why does Gustav get to stay warm' she demanded,

'let it go' Hiccup yelled 'we gotta get to Berk'

The Riders made it to Berk just before sundown, in the setting sun Hiccup could see the Dragon stables were nearing completion as well as the rain tub which would feed to fire proofing pipes around the village,

a cheer broke out from Villagers below, all cheering his name, Hiccup waved to them as they soared over and headed straight for the Great Hall, as they landed Sven came over

'hello you lot, good to see you again' he said,

'hey Sven' Hiccup said as he jumped off Toothless

'oh thank Heimdall you're here, your father is waiting inside' Sven motioned them inside the Hall as the doors opened, more villagers inside clapped and cheered saying 'they're here' 'it's Hiccup'

'Hiccup!' Stoick who was sitting at the back of the Hall came stomping towards them, pushing his way to the front of the crowd 'Son' he grabbed Hiccup and hugged him tightly 'thank you for coming'

'no, uhhh, problem dad, but...air please' Hiccup said breathless

Stoick dropped him 'sorry son' he turned to the other Riders, 'thank all of you, Berk needs you'

'of course they do' Snotlout said smugly

'we're happy to help' Fishlegs said shyly

'so what can we do for you?' Tuffnut asked in his superior posh voice

'Master Hiccup always a pleasure to see you' Johann said happily as he came to the front of the crowd,

'yeah, you too' Hiccup shook his hand, 'what are you doing on Berk, you're usually gone south this time of year'

'Johann brought word to Berk from the Hardhead's' Stoick said,

'ok, so what's the problem, are they having Dragon issues'

Stoick shook his head 'no, Hardhitr, the chief of the Hardheads, wants protection, it's for his daughter Friga, she is apparently being stalked and he's asked for all of you to help'

Hiccup couldn't help but feel disappointed, judging from the silence behind him Hiccup guessed all the Riders were too,

'really?' he asked, 'that's why you called us back, i mean its sad that she is having trouble like that, but we're not bodyguards dad, we've got bigger problems right now'

Stoick nodded and held up a calming hand 'i know son, it's not what you do usually, but the Hardhead's haven't traded or even come near Berk since we became known for making peace with Dragons and usually i would say we look after our own, but if Dagur is gathering an army we're gonna need allies and if we help them, we might get a little in return'

Hiccup nodded, he could see the logic, 'but why all of us, i could send one of us?'

Stoick shrugged, 'i dunno son, but it wouldn't hurt to show we take his problem seriously'

Hiccup looked at the Riders, 'well?' he asked,

Fishlegs stepped forward 'well Stoick is right, we need allies'

Snotlout nodded too 'keeping a maiden safe, sounds like a task for a viking'

Hiccup looked at Astrid, who looked edgy for some reason, 'Astrid?'

'well...it's for Berk, we have to help'

Hiccup looked at the twins who were staring at each other, 'uh, guys' he asked,

'what, oh were you saying something' Tuff asked as he broke eye contact with Ruff who started cheering 'yes, i won'

Hiccup rolled his eyes, 'i'll take that as a yes' he looked back a Stoick, 'we'll do it'


	3. Chapter 3 - lets get Started

**Here's Chapter 3, i was hoping to get this up before christmas sorry about that, rewrite took longer than i thought, enjoy, i don't own HTTYD**

 **Chapter 3** \- **Let's Get Started**

Hiccup sat in the Great Hall with the council, Astrid and the other Riders had been excused, to go see their families or to relax before they set off in the morning, Hiccup sat staring at Toothless as he snoozed infront of the table, wishing to the allfather he could join him

Stoick and the council had stood over a map of the archipelago arguing with Spitelout over something, Hiccup wasn't really listening, if the Hardheads had been having Dragon problems he would have been the first to pay attention, but now he knew it was all about protecting a girl from a stalker, he couldn't have cared less, odds were by the time they got to Hardhead Island, the stalker would have been caught and they could all head home a wasted journey and wasted days, well not exactly, he could drop off his designs to Gobber at least, as great as Dragon's Edge was, it didn't have a blacksmith to work on projects between and during life threatening moments

'what say you Hiccup' Mulch asked, Hiccup looked up, 'what, sorry?'

Stoick shook his head, 'we were saying son, well Spitelout was anyway, while we are with the Hardheads, we should strengthen our alliance to them, which by the way is not going to happen' Stoick turned his head to look at Spitelout, who merely shrugged,

'i'm saying it's an idea, she's not unattractive and it would guarantee an alliance'

Hiccup shot up 'whoa, are you talking about...marriage?'

Stoick stood up straight, 'yep, he thinks we should enter you and Friga into a marriage contract, which i disagree totally on' Spitelout grimaced and walked away from the table,

'a new sword, coulda been a gift to Hardhitr, is all i said' he groaned as he walked towards the doors

Mulch and Bucket beat a hasty getaway too saying something about need to check their boat for fresh limpets and it was just Gobber, Stoick and Hiccup at the table

'speaking of new sword, Gobber?' Stoick nodded to Gobber, who placed a long object wrapped in cloth on the table, Hiccup looked up at his father, he hadn't actually looked away from him since he had said he disagreed with the marriage contract, Hiccup was expecting him to agree, in fact he would have expected his father to force him into it all for the good of Berk

'are you gonna look at me or open your gift?' Stoick laughed, Hiccup stood and unwrapped the object, it was a sword, Hiccup picked it up it was light even he could lift it easily, he stepped away from Gobber and Stoick and took a few practice swings, he controlled them easily,

'whoa thanks dad, is this Gronckle Iron?' Hiccup asked admiring the blade,

'yep' Gobber said, 'took a while to find the right mix of rocks from what Fishlegs told me, heh made half the Gronckles in Berk sick to their stomachs'

'thanks dad and thanks Gobber, actually, i got something for you too' he placed his sword on the table and walked round to Toothless, he dipped into his satchel and pulled out a small chest and three scrolls,

Hiccup placed the chest on the table 'Gobber, do you think you could copy this in Gronckle Iron' he pulled out the new prosthetic and placed it on the table

'getting sick of the old one are ya' Gobber joked, he picked up the leg and looked it over once, 'mmmmm, yeah, uh-huh' he scratched his chin 'yep, should be easy enough'

Hiccup smiled, 'good, also i need a new saddle and harness for Toothless' Hiccup unrolled to scrolls and moved a candle for better light,

Gobber looked at the design, 'oh, is that a locking device?, i see moving your leg will determine how open the tail is' Gobber lifted the scroll up 'you know maybe we could do something about the handles on the saddle too'

'no, Gobber, no additions i don't want a flamethrower or a horn, d'you think you could make it' Hiccup looked at Gobber who looked almost offended,

'can i make it?, you've forgotten who taught you to blacksmith' Gobber now laughed, 'no problem, i'm behind on orders right now, seems making stuff outta Gronckle iron means no repairs or sharpening, i'll get started right away' Gobber picked up the chest and placed the leg back in it, 'should be ready within a week, i'll get it to you on Hardhead Island' Gobber patted him on the shoulder, grabbed the scrolls said goodnight to Stoick and walked out of the hall singing 'i'm a viking through and through'

Hiccup picked the sword up and turned to his father

'thanks again dad' he said, Stoick smiled

'no problem son, figured whatever happens, i'd rather know you had a reliable weapon at hand if you needed it' Stoick patted him on the shoulder 'see you at home',

as Stoick walked away, Hiccup stared at his retreating back, 'Dad' he called out

Stoick turned around 'yes son?'

'uh, why didn't you agree with Spitelout...about me marrying Hardhitr's daughter'

'simple son, i know you wouldn't marry her even if i told you to'

'how?' Hiccup asked,

Stoick smiled, well his beard changed shape into what Hiccup thought was a smile, 'son, you may think i don't pay attention to you, but i'm not blind, i know you and her like each other'

'wh, wh, wh what, who?'

Stoick laughed, 'still haven't told her yet i take it, for Thor's sake, she kissed you in public infront of us all, three times by my count and i'm sure there have been a few private ones'

'what...you mean, Astrid, no dad come on, she and i we're...well we're friends' Hiccup explained

'oh ai, friends who kiss and never take their eyes off one another' Stoick walked back up to him,

'dad, come on, she doesn't think about me that way' Hiccup argued

Stoick placed a huge hand on his shoulder 'son, perhaps you should stop thinking about what's out there on the horizon and maybe see what's right in front of you'

'dad' Hiccup moaned,

Stoick laughed, 'alright enough talk about that, you gotta get some rest we're setting off at first light'

'yeah sure' Hiccup said, like his mind would be able to rest now, whereas minutes ago it was practically dying a slow death 'uhhh actually i'm gonna go to the Academy' he said, holding up the sword 'get some practice in' Stoick nodded 'fair enough, don't be up too late'

Hiccup slid the sword into his belt and looked at Toothless, who was still asleep, 'Toothless, wake up' he shouted the Dragon shot up immediately, looking around for danger, Hiccup held up his hands 'whoa bud calm down, just me', Toothless growled slightly at him, 'sorry, but you had that coming, you could've stayed awake since i had to, i'll tell you what happened on the way to the Academy, you aren't gonna believe this bud' Hiccup lead the way followed closely by a quite angry looking dragon, Hiccup walked slowly and thought about Astrid, it was crazy, yeah of course he liked her, but the thought of her liking him back, well he was sure she wasn't losing sleep over it.

Astrid shot right up out of bed, quickly she took in her surroundings, she was in her room at her house on Berk, something had disturbed her and it wasn't the two barrels of yak jerky that had been dropped off outside her house by Fanghook earlier with a note from Gustav, she shuddered thinking about that, there was no way that was going to happen and her knuckles were already getting sore from hitting Snotlout so much, she threw her blanket off and stood up from her bed, she stretched her back and looked out her window at the night, she saw the quiet huts and dragons sleeping on them, she leaned on the windowsill and just stared into the night, she did miss Dragon's Edge, the quiet and the feeling of being far from it all, mostly she didn't like this feeling she had in her chest, it was like she was far from something important and she wanted it to be nearer, she huffed and cast a look around the shoreline in the distance she saw fading light from the dragon academy,

' _who would be there this time of night_ ' she thought, she walked from the window and quickly put on her boots, not forgetting her daggers which she tucked into her belt and ran from her house as fast as she could, why she was investigating she didn't know, mostly cos she wasn't doing anything else, she didn't feel tired, but also these were dangerous times Dagur could be anywhere, she followed the path to the academy as quietly and qickly as she could and as she approached the Academy, she peeked inside saw Toothless, he lay with his head resting on his front paws yawning slightly as he watched someone inbetween the torchlight, the figure spoke quietly to the Dragon, she wasn't able to hear what he was saying and as he stepped into the light she saw it was Hiccup, without his leather tunic and shoulder pads he was swinging a sword around with skill, she ducked down and peaked over the side, luckily Toothless' attention was on Hiccup, as he spoke to him and hers was completely on Hiccup too for another reason, when had he gotten so skilled with a sword, he usually preferred his shield, but his footwork, stance and balance we're all practically spot on, still a bit wrong here and there, but she couldn't doubt he was skilled, Hiccup parried an imaginary blow and went into a roll, but before he could stand up he slipped and landed on his back, she smiled, in battle that would have gotten him killed, but here in practice she could only see the same old Hiccup, brilliant but still such a klutz, she heard Toothless' laugh and Hiccup stood slowly,

'thanks bud, really encouraging' Hiccup rubbed his back 'oh, that's gonna hurt in the morning, how do Ruff and Tuff do it, get hurt and keep going',

Hiccup went to a table and leaned his sword against it, he turned to look at Toothless,

'so that's it, Spitelout reckons i should marry Hardhitr's daughter and my dad thinks...she and i have got a chance'

Astrid went wide eyed, she knew it, this as a plan to get Hiccup engaged to the daughter of Hardhitr and that settled something inside Astrid's head, under no circumstances was she leaving those two alone, whoever this daughter was, she wasn't right for Hiccup at all,

'you better get some rest bud, we'll be leaving in a few hours' Hiccup said as he unrolled a blanket onto the hard floor of the arena, Toothless grumbled slightly and Hiccup looked at him, 'what, what's with you?' Toothless huffed and laid his head down 'oh don't tell me you agree with my dad' Toothless grumbled again and to Astrid's ears it sounded like 'duh?'

Hiccup huffed and laid down, 'like i told him, there is nothing to tell, we're friends and...it's all we'll ever be'

' _what does that mean, he's never met Hardhitr's daughter...has he?'_ she thought as Toothless shook his head and walked to Hiccup and Astrid couldn't help the laugh that nearly escaped her as the Dragon grabbed a pillow and whacked Hiccup in the face with it and kept going,

'ow, hey, what, cut that out, Toothless!' Hiccup wrestled against the blows until Toothless gave up and sat back on is legs, 'you know, you really are getting on my nerves' Hiccup threatened and Toothless' only answer was to spit the pillow in Hiccup's face, Toothless glared at Hiccup, who groaned loudly

'ok fine mr expert, what am i supposed to say' Hiccup sat staring at Toothless, who rolled his eyes, whatever they were talking about clearly the Dragon was finding it hopeless, 'thought so!' Hiccup yelled and laid back down, 'Odin, everyone what's me to tell her, ok fine, tell me how to without getting an axe thrown at my head' Hiccup said to himself as he rolled onto his side,

Astrid slid down and sat with her back to the arena wall, she was processing all she had just heard ' _tell who what_ ' she thought, she got up quietly and sneaked away from the Academy, did he mean to tell Hardhitr's daughter no he wouldn't marry her, she guessed that would earn him an axe aimed at his head ' _or did he mean me?_ ' the different options filled her head until she got back to her house, and slid back into bed, ' _is he thinking about telling me, if so what is he worried about telling me...god i hate him, why can't he just make sense_ ' she slammed her head against her pillow, he was getting an axe to the head anyway no matter what he was talking about, cos it was driving her madder than Maddox the Mad, she punched her pillows hard trying to get comfortable enough so her mind would rest and she could sleep, come morning she was gonna throw more than one axe at Hiccup's head and strangely the thought of that brought her peace of mind and she soon fell into a pleasant sleep.

Miles away beyond the Fog bank of the archipelago, at the Dragon's Edge the Night Terrors were under attack, nets shot out and captured whole groups of them, Smidvarg lead a small charge with whatever Terrors he had left, but were soon taken down and captured, Dagur the Deranged stood in the Training dome staring around at the outpost, he had to admit Hiccup knew how to design a good outpost,

'Dagur, sir' Savage approached,

'what Savage, i'm having a moment of appreciation before i burn stuff down, do you not understand how important it is that i appreciate what i'm about to destroy...well after we're done searching for the Dragon Eye, then destroying...no, i suppose we'll destroy a few things in the search first...yeah Savage make a note, only destroy small things, i want most of the huts standing when we start destroying'

'that's what i came to tell you, we can't find the Dragon Eye anywhere sir, we've searched through the huts and stables even that meeting hut and we haven't found it anywhere' Savage closed his eyes waiting to feel Dagur's fist in his face,

but no fist came ''sir, are you feeling ok' Savage opened his eyes and saw Dagur was simply looking depressed,

'ahh well, at least there will be destroying, the Dragon Eye would have been good to show my brother just as i was crushing the life from him...but it's ok' Dagur walked away from Savage,

'burn it all' he said as he kicked stones lazily, 'kill half these little dragons, set the other half free when we're done, oh and someone get me some warm milk, i'm gonna take a nap before we set sail'

'to where sir' Savage asked, Dagur stopped walking and turned around grinning madly, 'the archipelago, my fleet is done Savage and since my brother isn't here, it means he's fallen into my trap perfectly, time to start phase two'

 **there's your lot, hope you enjoyed it, more to come soon**


	4. Chapter 4 - Arrival

**Chapter 4 - Arrival**

When Astrid woke in the morning, it was with a sense of regret, she knew she would not enjoy this day and she wished she kept her eyes closed, but with the Terrible Terrors in the middle of their morning chorus and Stormfly squawking at her window, she didn't have much choice, she slowly crawled out of bed and noticed a steaming jug of water and a bowl with a bar of soap and fresh cloth waiting on her table, her mother must have already been in this morning and left it for her, slowly she peeled off her clothes and threw them on the floor, she poared the water into the bowl and grabbed the soap and cloth and started to wash herself, Stormfly kept her usual silent watch outside, after catching Snotlout going for an early morning walk, three times...on the same morning, past her hut on Dragon's Edge, precautions had been taken, she thanked Stormfly and continued to wash as she did she wondered what this daughter of Hardhitr's had that she didn't, why would Stoick think her a good match for Hiccup, when Astrid herself would have been a better one, true she hadn't thought about it much over the years or hoped even, but now that there was a chance of Hiccup being taken, she did find herself comparing to a woman she had never set eyes on, she wondered what the girls hair was like, did she have a better face than her or body, where her breasts, her bum or legs better, these thought filled her head until she finished her wash, towelled herself down and started to dress, she grabbed any old top she could find in her bag and her usual blue leggings and as she was sliding on her spiked skirt she realised her top wasn't blue it was red, almost the same colour Hiccup's was, she wondered what would people say if they saw her wearing the same colour as Hiccup, would it send a message, she shook her head 'SNAP OUT OF IT' she screamed and grabbed her metal shoulder pads and put them on, if this was gonna be a long day, she would face it the way she always did, head on, she nodded and grabbed her axe and bag and threw them over her shoulders, 'Stormfly time to go' she said looking at the large head of her dragon at her window, Stormfly squawked in reply and Astrid headed downstairs.

The meeting place for the Riders was outside Gobber's shop, by the time Astrid made it, Fishlegs and Meatlug were already there, Fishlegs had a list in his hands and she heard him mumbling, 'meatlug's toothbrush, meatlugs wing shammy, meatlug's claw clippers and sharpener' Astrid smiled as she climbed off Stormfly,

'oh hey Astrid' Fishlegs said as he rolled up his list, 'hey Fishlegs, you ready to go?' she asked, Fishlegs nodded, 'yep, got everything we need' 'uhh Fishlegs' Astrid asked as she looked at his packs on Meatlug's saddle, 'aren't you forgetting something?'

Fishlegs shrugged 'no got everything on the list' which he patted proudly, 'weapons Fishlegs, where's your weapon, if we're going to be bodyguards for...' Astrid froze, as she thought about it, she didn't know the name of Hardhitr's daughter,

'Friga' Fishlegs said, Astrid gritted her teeth and nodded 'yes, that one, if we're gonna do this, you need to be armed', Fishlegs nodded, 'i know i asked Gobber to make me something last night after he left the meeting with the council'

Astrid nodded, 'okay good...so where are the others' she asked and her question was answered by the sudden heavy landing of Hookfang

'good morning, oh yeah, where are the others, we're ready, can't wait to set off' Snotlout said, if Astrid didn't know him better, she would say he was serious,

'you seem excited' Fishlegs said as he packed Meatlug's saddlebag

Snotlout nodded 'uhh yeah, obviously this isn't just a woman we're guarding Fishface, it's Friga the frigging Fair, most divine beauty of all the tribes'

'where did you hear that?' Fishlegs asked

'my dad told me last night and she's unmarried, well we'll just wait and see how she reacts to seeing Snotlout'

Astrid stood still ' _most divine beauty, that woman had the gall to be called divine beauty_ ' she thought and felt her hands clench and teeth grit again, that's what her name meant and now this harpy was stealing her name meaning too, she distantly recognised the sound of Fishlegs' laughter and came back to herself,

'no i think you got that wrong, yes she's supposed to be the fairest beauty in the Archipelago, but you dont stand a chance' Fishlegs laughed loudly

'oh really, why, you think she'll be interested in you instead, ha don't make me laugh' Snotlout mocked

Fishlegs shook his head 'no, you idiot, Hardhitr won't let any suitor within a mile of Friga'

now Astrid's attention was caught 'really, why?' she found herself asking quickly 'has he heard of Snotlout before?' she added even more quickly, Fishlegs laughed and she felt luckily she had gotten away with it

then she felt a hand on her shoulder 'you know Astrid, if you're jealous, i understand don't worry i wont forget y...' Snotlout doubled over gasping for air as he got a swift punch to the gut from Astrid 'i am not jealous of her' she yelled and went back to Stormfly,

'ow' Snotlout said as he slowly got back up, 'i think...she is jealous' he whispered to Fishlegs,

Fishlegs nodded, 'yeah, but i don't think you're the one she is worried about losing to Friga'

'who else is there, uhh hello Snotlout, dream of every young maiden in Berk and beyond' Snotlout flexed his arms and growled in pain before falling to his knees again,

Fishlegs shook his head and rolled his eyes,' _there is someone else...and here he comes_ ' he thought as Hiccup and Toothless came into sight in the sky.

 **Hiccup POV**

Hiccup landed in between Meatlug and Stormfly, 'morning gang' he said, Fishlegs returned his greeting Snotlout just raised his head and groaned, Hiccup would've guessed what had happened, but seeing how Astrid was now keeping her distance from Snotlout, he didn't need to, Toothless bucked forwards suddenly and ran right up to Astrid 'whoa there bud' he said before Toothless started nudging Astrid softly, she turned and smiled,

'good morning Toothless' she stroked under his chin and he fell limply to the ground, whilst still holding Hiccup on his back, who hit the dirt hard, 'oh sorry' Astrid said, clearly not meaning it, ' _what's wrong with her_?' he asked himself,

Hiccup stood up 'it's ok' he dusted himself off and Astrid smiled quickly and turned her back to him ' _ok, somethings definitely off here_ ' he thought, but before he could ask, two loud thumps behind him killed the question and he turned round to see the twins and his father with their dragons,

'son, you ready to go' Stoick asked, Hiccup nodded 'yeah, we're all here'

'not yet yer not' Gobber called out as he rushed towards them, his arms were full of weapons 'got a few things for yeh, Fishlegs, got your weapon ready' Gobber handed a short wide bladed weapon to Fishlegs, 'Snotlout, yer hammer' Snotlout plucked a heavy hammer from Gobber and handed a sword to Stoick, 'sharpened as you asked for chief' he said, before he turned to Hiccup, 'here boy, thought you might need these' he handed a quiver and a bow to him, 'thanks Gobber' Hiccup looked around at the Riders, it almost felt wrong to see them all arming up as if for a war even he with the sword on his hip, but this wasn't a regular mission, it wasn't dragons this time it was a man, silently he attached the quiver to his saddle and stored the bow behind him,

'hey Gobber' Snotlout said, 'any chance you can made me a new saddle, kinda like Stoicks' Hiccup finally noticed the saddle on Skullcrusher was different, two raised prongs in front with iron rings in them for steering and the saddle now had a back to it which housed a large axe inside,

'yeah me too' Ruff and Tuff said together, 'stop copying me, stop saying what i'm saying' they said in perfect time with one another

'ACTUALLY' Gobber said loudly stoping them, 'yer too late to ask, because someone already asked for a new saddle' he looked at Hiccup and winked, 'i'm drawing up designs for all of you, no fire breathing apparatus or horns included, they should be ready within a week and be here waiting for you when you come back'

'a week, you doubting us Gobber, i reckon when this stalker sees, the flaming awesomeness of Hookfang and my roaring vikingness, he'll give himself up' Snotlout said smugly, Hiccup rolled his eyes and looked at Toothless, who was busy being stroked by Astrid again,

'Toothless, get over here' he said, as the dragon groaned and walked away from Astrid, Hiccup shook his head, he knew what Toothless was playing at, trying to show how he preferred Astrid to another girl and he got closer Hiccup grabbed the strap around Toothless' neck 'you're not helping' he whispered, as he climbed onto his back,

'ok, anyone want to go before we leave?' Stoick asked, everyone said 'no' except Tuffnut 'wait hold on' Tuff jumped off Belch and ran behind Gobber's shop to his outhouse,

'we?' Hiccup asked his father, 'i'm flying with you son, Hardhitr doesn't trust dragons and he hasn't seen you since you were a babe, best i'm there to make introductions, it will help you that he sees the Chief of Berk instead of a group of teenagers, no offence anyone' Stoick looked at the Riders who all nodded, Hiccup noticed Astrid was looking slightly upset, he guessed she wasn't happy that they were being babysat after all they had done, Tuff finally reappeared 'sorry' he climbed onto Belch again and nodded 'let's get going' he said, Stoick looked at Hiccup 'ok, we're ready son, lead the way', Hiccup nodded, 'let's go' and with one great pounce they all hit the skies in the distance Hiccup could hear Gobber yelling 'GOOD LUCK' Hiccup waved an arm in response and let Toothless lead him higher into the clouds, even if he wasn't going to enjoy this mission and he was sure he wasnt, the very least he could salvage from it was a long flight on Toothless, Hiccup relaxed in his saddle and left the navigation to Toothless, he cast a look behind him and saw the Riders and his father all following in a straight line, Stoick was taking Astrid's usual place right behind him, Astrid he could see still looked slightly upset, he only hoped the flight could calm her down before the reached Hardhead Island, even he would have to spend most of the trip perfecting his happy to be here glad to help face ' _better start practising_ ' he thought, but as his eyes left Astrid to look ahead, he knew what he would spend most of his flight actually preparing, how to ask her why she was so upset and how quickly to duck

 **Astrid POV** \- Several Hours Later

Astrid didn't know how long they had been flying now, they had broke for an hour for rest and food at midday and then they had started again, the sun wasn't setting yet so it hadn't been that long, but it felt like forever, her mind had been going crazy places since the trip began, first with Stoick saying he would be coming along, that had filled her with dread, was he coming along to introduce them or was he there simply to negotiate Hiccup's engagement, that thought had been driving her mad and when they had stopped for lunch she had spent most of it away from the group alone with Stormfly, mostly she still argued with herself, if she was feeling so bad at the thought of Hiccup getting engaged what did it mean or was she upset by the prospect because as his friend and after sharing so many adventures together, he hadn't told her, she stared ahead at Stoick's back, she almost felt hate for the Chief, why was he just trading away Hiccup's happiness for an alliance, but he had been looking at her oddly most of the day too, almost in the same way he stared at Hiccup like a father would, during lunch he had brought a plate of food over to her and said to make sure she ate and when they had been discussing the best route from the little island they had stopped on, she had been the only one beside Hiccup he had listened to, what was going on, Toothless had been playful with her that morning, Stoick was being, well not more nice, but more open with her, where these two things done from sympathy for her, as if they knew she would be upset about Hiccup's engagement and were comforting her, but why would they do that, why would they be so concerned about her, she was his friend, it's not like she was in love with him, as soon as that thought crossed her mind, her heart did something it had never done before, it jumped and almost caused her to slip from the saddle

'there it is' she heard and look ahead again to see an island slightly smaller than Berk ahead,

'i'd best take the lead Hiccup, won't look good to Hardhitr, if i didn't land first' Stoick yelled, 'be my guest' Hiccup yelled as he drew back and Stoick flew over him to take point and Hiccup flew right beside her 'are you ok?' he asked

she did intend to ignore him, but something in her chest made her answer 'yeah, just tired' she called back.

Hiccup nodded 'yeah, uh hey listen, if you're not too tired, do you think we could talk later, there's something i wanna ask you' Astrid felt a starnge sensation in her chest again ' _oh Thor, is my heart fluttering_ ' she thought and nodded, 'sure, focus on this meeting with Hardhitr and then we will talk' a strange sound suddenly hit her ears, it was almost like a laugh, but it wasn't coming from Hiccup who was smiling and called 'great', infact it sounded like it was coming from up front, from Stoick actually, she dismissed it as Hiccup smiled a smile he had done a thousand times only now, it caused her heart to skip a beat ' _what's wrong with me_ ' she thought as Hiccup looked away and sped up a little to take his place infront of her and behind his father, she placed a hand to her chest and felt the thumping heart inside, ' _am i, could it be, am i excited to spend a bit of time alone with him_ ' her speeding heartbeat told her that yes, she was, she shook her head again and focused as all the dragons started diving down to fly just over the sea, ahead on the docks she saw a group of people, she guessed this was the council of the Hardhead Tribe, and one of them could possibly be Friga, she felt her teeth grit once more, ' _STOP_ ' she screamed in her head, ' _focus now, you need to focus_ ' this was the time to be Astrid Hofferson, Viking Shieldmaiden and Rider of a Deadly Nadder, not weird Astrid who can't get past the fact another girl will get to touch Hiccup's chest ' _whoa, where did that come from_ ' she tried to focus only now her mind was only focusing on the image of Hiccup's chest, she groaned loudly 'whoa Astrid, you okay' Fishlegs asked as he flew up alongside her, 'uhh yeah, just...a bug flew into my mouth' she knew it was a stupid excuse which no one would believe, but somehow Fishlegs just shrugged and flew backwards, finally her focus came back, they were seconds from landing and she had to show them the Astrid Hofferson, they were expecting.

Stoick POV

Skullcrusher landed on the docks, in his peripheral, he could see the Riders and Hiccup landing on either side of him, the gathered council backed away slightly and he saw some of the guards hands reach for their weapons, 'STOICK' Hardhitr yelled, the Chief was only a few years younger than he, his blonde forked beard seemed unchanged in the last few years, he climbed off Skullcrusher's back and approached Hardhitr, the grasped each other's forearms, 'it's been awhile old friend' Stoick said, Hardhitr's grip on his arm tightened, 'yes, almost four years, since you made peace with these...' Hardhitr looked behind Stoick 'things',

Stoick could almost sense Hiccup's usual defence of Dragons coming, so he beat him to it 'they aren't what you think Hardhitr, have you suffered any raids since we made peace, they were being controlled by a true beast, the Red Death'

'yes i heard the tale, the mighty Dragon Conqueror' Hardhitr said, he walked up and down the line of dragons and inspecting the Riders on them, he stopped when he looked at Toothless 'and this is him' Stoick felt like crushing the life from Hardhitr for the way he seemed to disregard Hiccup, as he himself had done once

'yes, that's my Son, Hiccup this is Hardhitr, Chief of the Hardhead Tribe' Stoick watched as Hiccup jumped off Toothless' back and approached him and offered his hand out 'nice to meet you sir' Hardhitr shook his hand, Stoick could see that blazing look in Hiccup's eye, he had made his mind up about something and he could guess Hiccup didn't like Hardhitr much,

'a Night Fury, i see' Hardhitr looked Toothless up and down 'always wanted one myself, well the head of one anyway' Toothless growled at him and Hiccup held a hand up and spoke confidently 'Chief, you called for our help, we came in good faith and in peace, should you not wish us to remain, we can leave in peace as well' Stoick smiled proudly, it was a good move, Hardhitr needed them more than they needed threats, ' _that's my boy_ ' he thought,

'Father' Stoick turned and saw a young beauty approaching down the docks, she moved delicately, she glowed with innocence and as Stoick looked at the Riders, he could see all the boys but one, were staring at her wide eyed and open mouthed, Hiccup stood strong still staring Hardhitr down, who looked away from Hiccup as the girl shot past Stoick, 'dearest' he said as he took the girl in his arms,

Stoick walked around the father and daughter and stood next to his own son 'so Hardhitr, like my boy said, if you don't want us we will leave', the girl lifted her head from Hardhitr's chest 'you are welcome sir, i am Friga' she spoke softly, her voice was like a tingle of a bell,

'Greetings my lady' Stoick bowed, 'dearest, this is Stoick the Vast of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe and his son Hiccup' Hardhitr introduced them 'the Dragon Master' Friga's eyes lit up, 'oh i have heard so much about you, thank you for coming to help' Hiccup seemed to be unaffected by the girl's beauty and charms, 'i'm glad we could help' was all he said

' _just like his dad, not interested in frail little girls_ ' Stoick thought, Hiccup raised a hand and pointed to the Riders 'these are the Dragon Riders of Berk' the Riders all jumped off their dragons and Snotlout was the first in line 'lady Friga, i am Snotlout Jorgensen, champion of the Thawfest games for over ten years' he said with a bow and a kiss on Friga's hand, Friga pulled her hand from Snotlout's grip rather quicker than possible,

Hiccup rolled his eyes and Stoick could only shake his head in frustration, 'and these are Tuffnut and Ruffnut Thorston, they ride the Zippleback' Hiccup introduced the twins, who bowed to Friga, 'i am Fishlegs Ingerman and this is my Gronckle, Meatlug' Fishlegs bowed as well and Meatlug stepped forward to bow too 'oh my Thor, isn't she intelligent' Friga said, 'why yes m'lady she is, infact...' Stoick quickly interupted on of Fishlegs long lessons of Gronckle intelligence 'and this my dear, is...' 'Astrid Hofferson' Friga finished for him although slightly less impressed, 'i've heard soo many stories about you, we must talk' even Stoick could tell the girl wasn't really that amazed with all the other Riders especially Astrid for some reason ' _silly girl probably wouldn't know what a shieldmaiden is_ ' Friga turned back to Hiccup 'you must all be tired, come i'll show you to our hall we have a feast set out in your honour' she took his arm and started to lead him away, Hiccup however showed resistance, 'well i'm sure the Riders, would gladly accept your hospitality, i however am interested in seeing where our dragons will be staying during our...visit'

'HARDKICKR!' Hardhitr shouted, making all the dragons step back in surprise and most of the Riders to have ringing in their ears, a young viking approached along the docks, he was muscular and had a long braided pony tail with a short trimmed beard, 'this is my son and leader of my fleet Hardkickr' Hardhitr said proudly, Hardkickr showed little to no politeness 'what is it father' he asked, 'take Stoick's boy and show him the...accommodation for his beasts' Hardhitr said and Toothless growled again 'easy bud' Hiccup said as he patted his head

Hardhitr looked to Friga 'lead the rest of the Riders to the Hall dearest, Stoick and i will follow behind shortly' Friga showed a little disappointment, but bowed 'yes father, ok, Rider please follow me' she said no hint of cheer, infact she said it the same way Hiccup had accepted the mission, quiet reluctant acceptance, Hardkickr looked at Hiccup 'follow me' he said simply 'yes sir' Hiccup replied sarcastically, 'ok guys follow me' the Dragons all responded and followed Hiccup along the dock, which Stoick saw made Hardhitr's eyes go wide for a second, 'oh Hiccup, don't take too long, we'll be waiting for you' Friga said to Hiccup's back Stoick nearly smiled as he saw a slight shiver run up Hiccup's body and Friga then lead the Riders behidn the line of their dragons,

'a fine lad your boy Stoick, can't believe it's the same runt you and Valka presented all those years ago, didn't think he'd last his first winter' Hardhitr said

Stoick clenched his fists 'and as i told you then, he's strong he might just surprise you'

'i'm sure he will, so tell me, why did you answer my call' Hardhitr asked,

Stoick looked him square in the eye, 'we're not enemies Hardhitr, i saw no reason not to'

'lies Stoick i know why you came, i know about your troubles with the Berserkers, i assure you this will not be, you scratch my back i'll scratch yours, once my daughter is safe, you will be paid for your services and then leave my island, never to return...and under no circumstances will i be offering my daughter up to a union with your fishbone son'

Stoick wasn't sure if the wetness he felt in his hands was sweat or blood, he certainly felt like he was squeezing tight enough to draw blood, still he spoke as calmly as he could 'you have no problem either way, they are here to protect only and will leave when their task is done, i'll stay only tonight and be gone in the morning, i have no interest in marrying Hiccup to your daughter either...and don't ever call my son fishbone again'

'he'll not be left alone with her, not for a single second, that is my strongest term' Hardhitr demanded, Stoick nodded 'fine, at night she can be guarded by Astrid or Ruffnut, in the day one of them will guard her with one of the boys' Stoick stated before he walked away from Hardhitr along the docks, he thought perhaps Hiccup was right, this was a mistake, but not a total loss, if all went well perhaps Stoick would have a future daughter in law by the time this mission was over and he was gonna make sure he helped out as much as he could with Hiccup finding out

 **short but sweet sorry, wanted to start showing Stoick the matchmaker, of course he was gonna help get them together**


	5. Chapter 5 - Time to Plan, Time to Think

**Hello my readers, sorry this took so long, but it's here please review let me know what you think and thank you to those who have reviewed and followed so far, glad you are liking Green as A Dragon**

 **Chapter 5 - Time to Plan, Time to Think**

Hiccup followed closely behind Hardkickr as he lead them through a thin forest, the young viking had said nothing the whole walk to...wherever they were going, wherever it was Hiccup noticed it was more than a fair distance from the village, which they had left behind over five minutes ago, Toothless nudge his back and Hiccup shrugged, he guessed the dragon was asking where they were going as well, after a while Hardkickr stopped walking and Hiccup held his right arm up to stop the parade of dragons following him, 'there' Hardkickr pointed Hiccup followed Hardkickr's finger and saw a cave,

before Hiccup could asked, Hardkickr spoke 'it's had straw and food placed in it just this morning, it should be dry and warm enough for your...things' he looked behind Hiccup and his face showed all the indifference and prejudice Hiccup expected,

'it should be fine' Hiccup answered back, he wouldn't respond to such blatant hatred, which clearly puttng the dragons so far from the town was, Hiccup looked behind him, from the mouth of the cave he saw they were across the bay from the town,

'we're still less than a minutes flights from the village, it shouldn't be a problem' Hiccup said and turned to look at the Dragon's 'ok guys, you heard the man' all the dragons looked sadly at him, especially Meatlug, they clearly didn't like the thought of being so far from their Riders, but Hiccup was gonna have to try and keep the peace...for as long as he could 'come on gang, i know it's not what we all want, but we have to respect that the Hardheads aren't used to Dragons walking round' all the dragons grumbled and headed into the cave except Toothless who stayed by Hiccup's side,

'be thankful, i voted for your beasts to stay in cages, but my sister spoke up for you, insisted in fact for better accommodation' Hardkickr spoke so slowly and which such baely masked hatred, Toothless growled harshly at him, Hardkickr himself seemed undeterred by the Night Fury and placed his hand on his sword,

Hiccup quickly jumped between them, 'whoa easy bud, calm down' he said, Toothless stopped growling but his eyes remained slits and still showed his teeth,

'brave of you boy to stand between two killers' Hardkickr said behind him and Hiccup turned to look back at him,

'i don't know what your problem is, but we got called here, we didn't ask to come and we're only here to keep your sister safe, if your guards were doing their job right, we wouldn't need to be here at all'

now Hardkickr seemed to lose whatever temper he had 'my sister's safety is our concern, not yours traitor' Hiccup however stood his ground 'well tell your father that, infact tell him i agree with you, see if he'll listen and we'll be gone by sunrise'

Hardkickr's grip on his sword was so tight that even in the fading light of evening Hiccup could see they were white, 'protectors?' Hardkickr spat the word out and started to walk past Hiccup, he got right up to Hiccups face 'let's see how good you are at your job' Hardkickr took a step back and Hiccup ducked just as his sword swung over his head, Hiccup quickly drew his own sword from Toothless' saddle and as Hardkickr was preparing a double handed downward swing, Hiccup held his sword directly at Hardkickr's groin,

'i may not be strong as you, but i'm fast' he said, Hiccup saw the unmistakable glow of Dragonfire, carefully looking around he saw Toothless and all the other dragons stood with flames in their mouths, Hardkickr stayed still, his eyes showed shock, shock Hiccup was used to seeing, he knew hardkickr was questioning how had a toothpick got the best of him, slowly Hiccup stood up, for the first time noticing he was the same height as Hardkickr, 'are you convinced?' he asked,

Hardkickr took a step back and lowered his sword, 'you have some skill with a blade' he admitted, 'let's hope it doesn't fail you' he sheathed his weapon, 'you can make your own way back to town, don't take too long, there's a feast celebrating your arrival'

with that Hardkickr followed the path they had just come up and walked off into the trees, Hiccup finally lowered his own blade and sheathed it back on Toothless' saddle 'i think we made a new friend' he said sarcastically, Toothless growled slightly as Hiccup stared over the bay at the town, he pulled his spyglass from his saddle bag and looked at the town, he saw the great hall, where presumably the others were by now, he knew what Astrid would say if she were here, the hall was positioned well for an attack from the sea no catapult could be able to reach it, he didn't lke how open the roms were though, from this spot he could see into several bedrooms, they all had open terraces outside them, Hiccup guessed one of them was Friga's, he also noticed there were no buildings surrounding it for a fair distance, 'this isn't right' he said, how could anyone sneak in or away silently, the guards were all in good positions anyone coming or going should be able to be seen, Hiccup conured up nearly every possible solution to his concern, going from highly skilled stalker to rogue dragon rider, but he knew only one kind of dragon that could camouflage and it wasn't likely anyone could train one, he knew from experience, so either they were looking for a highly skilled dragon training stalker or... 'the stalker never left' he said aloud, 'okay let's go back to town bud, we need to speak to the gang' Hiccup said as he stowed his spyglass back in the pack and settled on Toothless' back, the sooner they started, the sooner they could leave.

Across the bay, in the Hall, a large feast was well underway Astrid sat with Stoick, the Riders, Hardhitr and Friga at a long table at the front of the hall, villagers all stood around talking in small groups while music played, it wasn't a very joyful feast, Astrid had never felt so unwelcome in all her life, she felt the cold stares of the villagers and saw more than one group looking at them with complete disdain, Astrid was trying to listen in on Stoick's conversation with Hardhitr, but all she could hear was Snotlout trying out pickup lines and badly flirting with Friga, she stabbed at her food half heartedly, and more than worried, she wouldn't put it past someone to have poisoned or drugged her food and mead, she looked down the table Ruff and Tuff were the only one's eating, Fishlegs just sat looking sad, ' _probably wondering if Meatlug is ok_ ' she thought,

'so i got a new hammer, i'll show it to you tomorrow, had it made especially for this mission, no one's gonna stalk you when they see it, what kinda weapon do you like to use' she heard Snotlout saying and after a short while Friga responded

'oh my father never let me touch a weapon, he said fighting killed my mother and wouldn't kill me', Astrid did feel a little sympathy for the girl...for a split second, before she followed up by saying 'i'm ok with it, what kind of man would like to have a warrior for a wife is what i say, the Dragon Master for instance'

'Hiccup?' Astrid turned her head and saw Snotlout looking incredulous 'you would prefer Hiccup?, tall, lanky, no muscle'

'should you be speaking about your leader in such a manner' Friga asked looking shocked

'my leader, listen babe, Snotlout listens to Snotlout and so does Hiccup'

Astrid was saved from retorting by the doors to the hall opening and Hiccup strolling in with Toothless behind him, the music stopped and everyone went quiet, Hiccup walked towards the table as if he didn't notice the cold stares he was receiving, Toothless walked behind him staring around at all of the people Astrid heard the whispers easily, the hall had gone so quiet

'A Night Fury'

'The Dragon Master'

'Traitor'

when Hiccup reached the table, he bowed his head 'Chief Hardhitr, i apologise if this is rude, but i need to speak to the riders, can you excuse them from the...party for a while' Hardhitr was nearly crushing the goblet he had in his hand,

'what is your beast doing in my hall...and what did you do to my son' he was half out of his chair and Astrid's hands were halfway to the daggers on the back of her belt when Hardkickr came walking into the hall,

'father' he shouted, 'he has broken your laws, he brought this devil creature into our sacred hall'

'which i was just apologising for' Hiccup said loudly, 'i need to speak to the riders urgently and flying was the fastest way here'

'father' all eyes turned to Friga as she stood, 'if it's for my safety's sake i think we could forgive Master Hiccup on this occasion' she looked innocently at her father, who thought for a moment and nodded 'we shall just this once, get your beast out of here' he ordered and sat back down

'Father?' Hardkickr groaned

'SILENCE BOY' Hardhitr yelled, 'go with the Riders, if it is to guard your sister i want to know their plan' Hardkickr bowed his head and Hiccud looked up and down the table,

'guys follow me' Hiccup called, Astrid stood up as did the others, except for Snotlout who sat in his place until Astrid kicked the back of his chair 'i'm only going, so i can tell him what i will be doing instead of what he wants me to do' she heard him say to Friga as she followed Hiccup, she noticed Stoick was staying put at the table, she hoped he would be doing his very best to soothe the the tensions with the Hardheads 'oh wait hold on' she heard Tuff and Ruff say as they loaded their arms up with food and followed Hiccup outta the hall.

Hiccup led the Riders to the courtyard below the balcony's in the hall, Hardkickr followed them closely, once they were all stood in a circle Hiccup addressed Hardkickr first,

'before i start, i am guessing your father has some conditions to our protection detail'

Hardkickr nodded 'yes, no men are to guard her alone, no men are to be alone with her at all' Hardkickr looked at all the men and spent a long time glaring at Hiccup in particular 'and she is not to be left alone especially at night, so Dragon Master what is your plan'

Hiccup thought for a moment 'uhh ok, which balcony is your sisters?' he asked, Hardkickr pointed to the second balcony away from them, 'my father's is next to hers',

Hiccup had the feeling that last part was meant as a threat, but he ignored it 'Ruff, Fishlegs you have first watch, i want you outside Friga's door and on the balcony, Ruff that's your spot, Fishlegs you're outside the door' 'right Hiccup' Fishlegs said, Hiccup looked at Ruffnut, who was busy chewing on a chicken leg, 'what, did you say something?' she asked, noticing everyone was looking at her

'yes i was saying you are going to be guarding Friga's balcony tonight' Hiccup said,

Ruff nodded 'oh right...but why the balcony, aren't we supposed to be watching her'

Hiccup rolled his eyes,'do we have access to your armoury' he asked Hardkickr, who nodded 'Ruff, go with Fishlegs, get a club, a hammer, whatever and stand guard on her balcony if you see anyone who isn't Friga, pretend their Tuff and hit them with it' as they walked off, Hiccup again turned to Hardkickr,

'is that acceptable' he asked, Hardkickr nodded, 'okay, Snotlout, Tuff, you guys are on day duty tomorrow with Astrid' 'and what about you' Astrid asked, 'i'm gonna be on duty tonight, i'll use Toothless' abilities to make sure no one approaches her room and...'

'NO' Hardkickr said, 'no dragons, we refuse to let your beasts walk around our village', Hiccup was about to argue when he heard Stoick's booming voice 'he's right son, they have made enough allowances for us, we should respect their boundaries', Hiccup turned and saw his father approaching Hardhitr and Friga hot on his heels,

'but dad, it would be easier' Stoick held up his hand to stop Hiccup mid sentence, 'they aren't used to our way of life son and you can't force it on them' Hiccup noticed Hardhitr behind Stoick was looking slightly smug about something, 'ok fine, i'll set up a lookout and keep an eye on thing that way' Hiccup said, Stoick nodded, 'i think thats agreeable',

Hardhitr nodded too, 'fine, you two take your posts' he point at Fishlegs and Ruff and then looked at Hiccup 'but i don't want you to be able to see into my daughters room, you can watch the balcony but not into her room' he said, Hiccup was almost tempted to shake Hardhitr, it was always two steps forwards and twenty steps back working with him 'fine' Hiccup agreed, he nodded at Fishlegs and Ruff both who just walked off back towards the hall quietly

Friga now stepped forwards, 'thank you dragon master, i appreciate all your help' she said and looked around at Snotlout, Tuff and Astrid 'you must be tired, my father has arranged rooms for you, Guard' she called and a burly guard who kind of reminded Hiccup of Mulch only with a leg and no hook walked towards them, 'please lead the riders to their rooms' she asked, the guard nodded and lead the three away from the hall, 'where are they going?' Hiccup asked,

Hardhitr now smiled even more smug 'we don't want any of your riders resting in our halls, there are huts on the grounds they can be quite comfortable in...you on the other hand, as the son of Stoick the Vast may sleep in a room inside the hall' the last part was said with disappointment, clearly Friga had had a hand to play in those discussions 'now i'll bid you goodnight, see if your as good as i have heard boy' Hardhitr said 'Friga come away child' 'goodnight Master Hiccup' she called as Hardhitr and Hardkickr led her away and back into the hall

'horrible girl' he heard Stoick say, Hiccup looked at his father 'what is going on dad, why did you agree to so many restrictions, we might as well not be here, she'd be safer with guards not the Riders'

Stoick nodded, 'agreed son, the trouble is he is thinking just like Spitelout did, Hardhitr is convinced i'm trying to get you married to Friga so when he set terms that you especially were not to be around Friga alone for any reason or anywhere near her, i agreed wholeheartedly'

Hiccup slowly accepted the fact his father was right, he already had a prejudice idiot on his back he didn't need an overprotective one instead, this way kept Hardhitr off his back and kept him happy, which explained the smug look, he thought he had outsmarted them, 'thanks dad' he said,

Stoick nodded 'anytime son' he yawned and stretched 'well, i'm gonna turn in for the night, perhaps you should go have that talk with Astrid, you promised her'

'what' Hiccup said, Stoick laughed 'oh i heard you ask her to talk when we were in the air, now run along, you can't keep a lady waiting' he waved his hands and walked off, Hiccup groand not in frustration, but because twice in less than five minutes his father was right about something, he looked at Toothless, 'can you tell me where they are' he asked, Toothless gave Hiccup a look that said ' _are you really asking?_ ', Hiccup nodded and got onto his back, 'before you do, we need to go see Stormfly' he said, Toothless nodded excitedly and Hiccup shook his head, he wanted to tease Toothless about wanting to see HIS lady friend, but thought better of it, it would only mean the dragon would try and get him back later on.

Astrid walked with Snotlout and Fishlegs and were led to a small hut and a slightly larger hut, sheds more like it, the guard who had been leading them simply walked away, she opened the door of the smaller one and saw inside were two piles of straw and that was it, she guessed one was for her and the other for Ruff,

'you cannot be serious, were sleeping in sheds' Snotlout said 'this is more than insulting'

Astrid would have found all this insulting too, if she wasn't so exhausted, 'just put up with it Snotlout, i get the feeling we are lucky enough to get these at least' Fishlegs said, Snotlout just walked into the larger shed moaning under his breath 'there's only three piles of straw' he yelled from inside, after a short pause Snotlout yelled again 'oh i see how it is the dragon master gets a better place to sleep, don't they know that i am the heart of this team'

Astrid felt her heart sink as Snotlout spoke and it wasnt for the usual reason that he was speaking at all, Hiccup was up in the hall...with her, Astrid just collapsed onto the straw pile and sat with her knees pulled tight against her chest tears threatening to fall, how many hints must there be before he admitted it to her, he had promised to speak to her and it had been a rather hectic start since their arrival, but she wanted to see him so bad, she also wanted to know why it was bothering her so much, why did she hate Friga she was an innocent in all of this, well not quite innocent, but why did Astrid feel so bad about Hiccup's engagement to her, she was ready to hit her head with her own axe, she just collapsed onto her back and stared up at the roof of the shed, there was only one thing she could do, she had to think, it was abvious she couldn't fix this problem by throwing an axe at it, ' _ok_ ' she thought, if she was gonna do this she needed to be honest, there was no one to deny anything to, she couldn't lie, after a long time she focused on her first problem, she was upset about this engagement, that was obvious, now why was she upset, first it would mean a big change, Hiccup wouldn't be able to be around her so much anymore, okay one reason discovered, now what else was there, well, she had to admit she didn't like the thought she wouldn't be his first person to talk to if he was bothered about something, Friga would be the one to have to do that, she then rattled down the list of all the thinsg she wouldn't be able to do with Hiccup again, well hugging would be out of the question and especially kissing him cheek or lips, both were out of the question, if he ever wanted to handle a mission or go on a flight with her she wouldn't be able to, she thought that was it, so simple really it was that fact that she would lose her closest friend...' _NO_ ' that explained nothing, if it were just friendship, it wouldn't hurt so much if she thought about Friga kissing him, gods what was it, she wiped her eyes as she felt tears on her face,

'uhh Astrid' she shot up as she saw Hiccup standing in the doorway of her shed 'HICCUP' quickly she wiped her eyes,

'are you ok, is something bothering you' he asked, Astrid sniffed and wiped her eyes and face 'yeah of course i am, i... think i'm allergic to something in here, i might go sleep in that cave with the dragons instead, what are you doing here' she asked, she knew Hiccup would ask more so the only way she wouldn't have to answer him was to get answers from him, he scratched his neck nervously,

'i uh...well, i thought you might need this' Hiccup held up her bag, Astrid wiped her eyes for the last time and took the bag, 'thanks' she said, expecting him to leave as soon as possible she was surprised to see him standing waiting for something clearly, 'is there something else?' she asked, Hiccup shrugged 'no. i was just thinking, well i said earlier i wanted to talk to you and didn't want to go to sleep without talking to you about, what i said i wanted to talk to you about'

'ok, so what did you want to talk about' she saw he was uncomfortable and kept staring at his foot, ' _oh no, here's here to tell me about the engagement_ ' she thought, she almost didn't want to hear it, it made it true and real and she didn't want that, she had to talk about something else...fast,

'so...what do you think so far' she asked, Hiccup seemed relieved at her question ' _that's not a good sign_ ' she thought

Hiccup simply shrugged 'i dunno, i think Friga is the only one here who is happy to see us', Astrid nodded 'yeah, but what about her brother'

'i dunno yet, he seems to not want our help' Hiccup huffed and sat down on the ground next to her straw pile 'and there's something else bugging me'

'what do you mean' ' _ok i gotta face this, fake smile and punch his arm_ ' she clenched her fist ready to punch him,

Hiccup looked at her like it was obvious 'i mean, something is wrong Astrid, you must have noticed, the hall is almost a quarter of a mile from the village right, there are guards patrolling more than regularly and even when Hardhitr gave orders to find the stalker they should have had enough time to even glimpse him, so how could he just vanish without a trace, i don't think the stalker has left the hall...or he even exists'

'you think Friga is lying?, but what would she get from bringing us here' she asked, sitting up on her knees, this could be good, there was no way Stoick would be happy to have Friga be with Hiccup if she was lying 'we should tell your dad, he should know if he's trying to...' she cut herself off too quickly and Hiccup looked at her with wide eyes, she tore her eyes awy from his and looked away

'what?' Hiccup asked 'when my dad is trying to do what?'

'well...if he is trying to make a marriage contract, shouldn't he know something's not right' Astrid said plainly trying to sound as neutral as possible, Hiccup was silent and slowly she looked back at him, she saw what she expected, he had a confused look on his face, but not the right kind of confused look,

'marriage contract?...with Friga, who told you that?' he asked,

'no one' she said quickly 'you are his son she is Hardhitr's daughter, isn't it to be expected', she went back to looking at her knees, and was amazed to hear Hiccup's laughter and even more amazed by what he said next

'Odin no, he can't stand her, neither can i to be honest', that caught her attention, good and proper she looked up at him so quickly, she felt a muscle strain in her neck

'what...so, he isn't, but i thought...he's not' she said, Hiccup shook his head 'he'd sooner see me marry Alvin than Friga'

' _thank you Freyja_ ' ( **norse Goddess of love** ) she thought, ' _wait, what Freyja, why would i thank Freyja_ '

'oh, uh ok, sorry my mistake' she smiled truly happy, there wasn't an engagement, she'd take that for now, hel it solved her problems in one stroke no need to question everything now,

she noticed Hiccup was staring around at the shed, 'i'm sorry about this i should speak to Hardhtr try and get you guys rooms in the hall' he said

Astrid just shrugged, as far as she was concerned she had nothing to worry about, even smelly sheds, 'wouldn't do much good, how are the dragons?, i hope he's treating them better'

Hiccup nodded, 'they're in a cave over the bay, they should be here fast enough if you call' he said and after a short silence, he just blurted out 'why dont you sleep in my room tonight?'

'what?' Astrid said, ' _me sleep in his room...with him, does he know what kind of message that would send_ ', Astrid's mind then began to consider all the things that people would think, people would think them as lovers, which surprisingly, more than surprising if Astrid were honest with herself, she didn't mind the thought of being considered Hiccup's lover ' _no no no no no_ ' she thought,

'i didn't mean together. of course, i mean that would be...weird' Hiccup nervously laughed

'yeah totally weird' Astrid agreed ' _and amazing_ '

'i mean i'm gonna be up on nightwatch duty and if there is a perfectly good room and you are allergic, so you could use mine if you like and it gets you away from Snotlout and the snoring'

Astrid smiled, ' _how could he be so...perfect_ ' she thought, he thought about her when she should be focusing on protecting Friga, again usually she would have hit him for not focusing on the task at hand, but she found it flattering anyway, so she nodded and Hiccup stood, he held out his hand and Astrid took it, feeling fire spread all over her body at the contact, she stood up and grabbed the bag 'lead the way' she said, 'oh, right uhh problem is...i don't know the way' Hiccup said embarrassed, she laughed and looped her arm around his 'we'll stop and ask someone' and together they set off towards the hall, leaving a yelling Snotlout shouting 'hey, what about me!'

Miles away, on the far side of the Fogbank, a fleet of fifty ships sailing under the crest of the Skrill, lay at anchor, Dagur the Deranged stood on the bow of the lead ship staring at the fogbank, he was waiting for first light, even he wasn't crazy enough to sail in the fog bank at night, he needed all his ships intact for what was coming, as he stared at the mist he saw a bird appear from it, he smiled as the bird soared past his head and landed behind him he turned around and saw Savage standing over a box with a map on it and the bird resting on his arm 'well Savage?' he asked,

Savage untied a message on the birds leg and held it up to a lamp 'just as you said sir, they took the bait, they are on Hardhead island'

Dagur clapped happily 'goody, always so predictable, almost takes the fun out of it all...almost' he laughed, 'send word back at first light, Hiccup's not stupid, we won't have long, keep them there at all costs understand'

Savage nodded, while Dagur plucked a small throwing knife from his belt and walked to the mast where a badly drawn sketch of Hiccup was nailed onto it, he threw the knife and hit the drawing right in the throat 'see you soon brother' he cackled, before turning round 'SAVAGE!' he yelled, 'where's my warm Yak milk, i want a good night's sleep before morning'

 **more to come hopefully sooner than this chapter, next chapter there will be lemons and we're nearly there, Astrid will realise soon**


	6. Chapter 6 - Prize of a fight

**Hello my readers, so sorry this took too long, work has been a pain in the proverbial, WARNING first slight Lemon scene is in this chapter and had to change chapter after i saw RTTE, who knew Hiccup had it in him.**

 **Chapter 6 - Prize of a Fight**

Astrid woke up the next morning, bright sunlight lit the large room that should have been Hiccup's, she stretched out on the large bed and climbed off it, her clothes and bag lay on a chair by the balcony, she wore a nightshirt that stopped mid calf, she was sure it was meant for Hiccup, but since he leant her his room she was sure he wouldn't mind in the least, there was a knock on the door 'come in' she called, the door opened

and two maidens entered, one with a breakfast tray and the other with a bowl, cloth and a jug of steaming water, Astrid was about to say good morning but the two women seemed unwilling for a conversation they left their wares on the table and walked out quickly, Astrid shrugged, she wasn't expecting much but some small show of manners would have been nice, she walked to the tray and saw bread and oatmeal, she picked up the bread and sniffed it, not trusting that even food was safe here, she poured the water into a bowl and dipped the cloth into it, then she pulled her hair out of it's usual pony tail and flicked her hair out, she stripped off the nightshirt and picked up the cloth, as she stood there naked by the table she felt a sudden worry, Hiccup said last night he could see the cave where the dragons were, she quickly covered herself, ' _oh thor, what if he's looking over here...did he just see...me_ ' quickly she opened her bag and pulled out the eyeglass Hiccup demanded they all carry at all times, and raised it to her eye, she saw smoke billowing from the cave and she could just make out the sight of a dragon stretching, but no sign of Hiccup, she lowered the glass and walked back to the table and started to wash herself again, ' _not like he would have been spying on me, he knows what i would do if he did_ ' she thought, she felt a shiver run down her spine, even though here on Hardhead island they didn't have the below freezing temperatures on Berk, but it wasn't anything to do with the temperature, she found she kind of liked the idea of Hiccup's eyes on her body, she checked herself out as she washed, she didn't have the biggest bust and her hips were kinda big, she wondered what Hiccup would think of her, she shook her head and got back to washing, ' _silly_ ' she thought,

Astrid dressed quickly after her wash and as she was starting to braid her hair in her usual ponytail, she found herself thinking for some reason, she fancied a change and decided to change her hair to be on the left side of her head, it was slightly fancier, it didn't keep her hair out of her face as much as it used to but she liked it, she took slightly longer looking at the arsenal of weapons in her bag, mostly knives, daggers, throwing knives and axes, short swords, it was hard to choose, usually she would just grab her axe, but it was still on Stormfly's saddle, she looked over her shoulder to the distant cave where her friend was, she hoped to visit her and hoped even more she was being fed properly, looking back at her weapons she chose her twin daggers, strapped throwing axes onto her belt and a short sword,

this was her first morning guarding Friga, she wanted to keep up appearances, she may not like the girl, even without the threat of her taking Hiccup away ' _Thor not that again_ ' she groaned, it was all ok, there wasn't a marriage, they could catch this stalker and be gone never to look back, so she would do her job and guard her,

Astrid strolled out of Hiccup's room and saw Fishlegs standing down the far end of the corridor, his chest was puffed out and he was flexing his arms to make himself look bigger,

she approached him 'morning Fishlegs' she said happily, Fishlegs nodded and after a short time let out a long breath and bent over breathing heavily 'have you been doing that all night?' she asked,

last night when she and Hiccup had been told the way to his room, they had stopped outside Friga's room to talk to Fishlegs, he had been doing it then, she would have thought he would have taken a break, Fishlegs stood up after catching his breath 'yeah' he said simply,

Astrid smiled 'well you're relieved of duty, go get some breakfast and some rest' Fishlegs nodded and as he walked away 'and if you see Tuff and Snotlout tell them to get over here' Astrid called he waved his arm in response, Astrid knocked on Friga's door and it opened to reveal a pair of familiar eyes 'yes, can we help you' Ruff asked through the crack 'let me in Ruff, it's me for Thor's sake' slowly Ruff opened the door,

Astrid walked in and saw, Friga sitting at a vanity in a fur covered dressing gown, as three ladies in waiting styled her hair,

'morning Lady Friga' Astrid said pleasantly, Friga looked around and nodded to her with a small smile, feeling she wasn't gonna get more than that she turned to Ruffnut and asked 'anything to report?' Ruff's eyes went wide

'what?, was i supposed to write things down, no one told me that' Astrid shook her head and held up her hand 'ok, did you see anything last night any sign of this stalker?' Ruff shook her head, 'no, all quiet'

Astrid nodded 'ok, go get some breakfast and get some sleep, i'll see you this evening' Ruff nodded and left the room, Astrid took position by the door, it had good sight lines out the window too, she stood silent and still while Friga was finishing up having her hair done,

afterwards Friga stood up, 'thank you' she said and walked towards a mirror, as the girl admired her long braid and the style, she looked at Astrid 'what do you think?' she asked, Astrid had no idea what to say, she would have liked to say the hairstyle wasn't functional for a fight it would whip round, block her vision for a second and get her killed, but she didn't 'i'm here to guard you milady, not offer opinions on hairstyles' she said simply,

Friga didn't seem offended by what she said, she looked back in the mirror 'of course, you're a warrior i forget, but what you do know i assume is the Dragon Master, do you think he would like it?'

Astrid nearly broke her own fingers as she clenched her hands into fists sharply, fighting the urge to scream at Friga to stay the hel away from Hiccup, she said quickly 'i...i don't know, Hiccup...doesn't notice such things, i think' she still clenched her hands tightly as Friga went back to admiring herself, 'we'll see if he notices' she said,

Astrid watched Friga as she disappeared behind a screen and her dressing gown draped over the top of it, Astrid gritted her teeth hard, who did this cow think she was?, she had seen admiration for Hiccup in Friga's eyes last night when they had arrived and it annoyed her then, what annoyed her more was why couldn't this damn woman get into her head Hiccup's name, ' _think a new hairstyle will get his attention do you, ha good luck_ ' she thought, but as she did she found her grip loosening in her fists and her hands raising to stroke her braid, she wondered, would he notice her hair was different, it wasn't like she changed it for him, but it would be nice if he noticed, she looked past the screen Friga was washing behind and out the window, she couldn't see the cave from this angle and wondered if he was out flying or here in the hall already, one thing she did notice and took as a victory, if Hiccup were gonna spy on a girl washing herself, he stood a better chance looking in her window than Friga's ' _HUH_ ' she thought, her thoughts however were interrupted by the ladies in waiting laying about twelves dresses on the bed, ' _oh gods_ ' she thought, ' _don't tell me i have to sit through a fashion show_ ' Friga appeared from behind the screen tying up her dressing gown, 'now which shall i wear today' she said aloud, ' _Hiccup!_ ' she thought ' _now would be a really good time to send me a terror or cause a bit of trouble to get me out of here_ ', again she looked out the window...nothing, whatever he was up to, she hoped it was important.

 **Hiccup POV**

Hiccup sat in the dragon's cave, staring at the burnt out fire, around him the dragons were all fast asleep still, he guessed they knew early morning flights were a no go here, even Toothless hadn't woken up yet, which was why Hiccup was sat staring at the ash and charred wood with his mind full of thoughts, mostly about this mission, if Friga was being stalked by someone in the hall why, if she wasn't why call them here, what was going on...and why did Astrid look like he had said Snoggletogg was early this year last night when he told her he wasn't getting engaged to Friga,

that was perhaps the biggest thought in hs head, why was she so happy he wasn't getting engaged, was it a sign that if he told her how he felt she would return his feelings or was he being stupid risking their friendship for nothing, he stabbed hard at the dead fire and stood up, grabbing his sword from the saddle lying next to Toothless he took a few practice swings, it was getting harder and harder to fight the urge to tell Astrid how he felt, his father's not so subtle suggestions and proddings had not helped either, Hiccup entered the clearing outside the cave and took a swing at a nearby branch cutting it clean off, he knew he would have to face this situation one day, he was the son and heir of the Chief, part of his life would be to marry and produce the next heir and that was the problem, he wouldn't just be asking Astrid to be his girlfriend, if they were together, it would be expected that they marry, and he didn't think Astrid was that type of girl, sure she had more respect for the old customs than him, her family would certainly not have a problem with her being married to the next Chief, but he didn't know if she wanted that life or wanted him at all,

as Hiccup blocked an imaginary swipe to his right side, he thought that part of the problem was his first challenge, he had to know if she felt the way he did, he brought the sword up into a high guard and swung straight down, meaning he would have to see how she reacted if he made some kind of romantic gesture, he took a few more swings wondering what he could do his first thought was a night flight, but she wouldn't think anything special about that, they'd flown together more times than he could count, perhaps he could bring her lunch or take her for a picnic, no she wouldn't abandon her post during the day and he had to be on guard duty overnight, 'damn' he thought, now he was beginning to put serious thought into telling Astrid, he realised this wasn't going to be easy,

Hiccup heard soft rustling behind him, he raised his sword and turned around as Fishlegs came out into the clearing carrying a large sack on his back 'Fishlegs?, what are you doing here, you're supposed to be watching friga' Hiccup said,

Fishlegs nodded 'Astrid took over already, i came here to see Meatlug, is she up, i got her favourite, igneous rocks' a huge shape suddenly leapt from the mouth of the cave and pounded into Fishlegs, Meatlug licked Fishlegs furiously 'oh hello princess' Fishlegs cooed as he hugged Meatlug tightly, Hiccup lowered his sword, 'ok, anything to report' Fishlegs didn't answer he was too busy laughing as Meatlug played with him 'FISHLEGS!' Hiccup shouted, Meatlug whimpered and back down from playing, she looked guilty, 'sorry Hiccup, all quiet last night, nothing happened' Fishlegs said,

Hiccup sheathed his sword 'ok, i should report in to Astrid too...actually Fishlegs, can you stay here with the Dragons, just in case' Fishlegs looked at the cave and at Meatlug, 'you don't think, would anyone really try hurt them' he asked, Hiccup shrugged, 'better safe than sorry, get some rest, i'll make sure you get some food sent over' Fishlegs nodded, Hiccup left the clearing as he did he looked back and saw Fishlegs sat down in the mouth of the cave holding his sword while Meatlug sniffed at the sack of rocks he had brought.

Hiccup's trip into the village was greeted with the standard whispers, evil stares, shocked looks and disappointed laughter he had come to expect, he walked to the Rider's sheds and saw Snotlout running his fingers through his hair, 'hey Friga, good morning, looks like i'll be watching you all day, don't worry you can watch me too' Snotlout flexed his arms and posed, Hiccup rolled his eyes 'morning Snotlout' he said, Snotlout nodded 'where's Tuff' Hiccup asked, 'breakfast' Snotlout said as he stretched his arms out again, 'Snotlout, aren't you supposed to be with Friga instead of practising chat up lines' Snotlout finally roke from his flexing and stared at Hiccup 'duh, i'm arriving late on purpose, if i show up too early she wont be as desperate to see me, keep her waiting for a bit longer and the urge to see Snoutlout will be too much, oh yeah Snotlout'

Hiccup rolled his eyes 'ok, i'm going to check in on Astrid, if i see Friga, i'll tell her the wait isn't over yet' he left quickly before he got pulled deeper into his cousins madness, it was so sad it was almost funny,

Hiccup walked slowly across the gardens, looking casually up at Friga's balcony, where Astrid was, even though Snotlout's delusions were annoying, Hiccup had to give his cousin this, he wasn't afraid of showing women he liked them, even though he repulsed every woman he tried it on with, Hiccup was struck with the funny thought of copying his moves and chat up lines to Astrid, she would either laugh or punch him, for a second Hiccup thought he preferred those two outcomes to the ones he had if he told Astrid how he felt, she would either return his love...or punch him,

Hiccup made it to the hall and opened the doors, he saw Tuff and Ruff running full speed towards one another on top of a long table, he closed his eyes and heard a huge resounding clang and two heavy thuds, he opened his eyes and saw two pairs of feet sticking up in the air behind the table, he walked around the table and saw them both grinning madly, 'hey Hiccup' Tuff said,

'uh hey...report to Astrid when you're done...doing whatever it is you are doing, Ruff...never mind' Hiccup walked away from them, he was afraid to ask for the reason and decided he was happier not knowing, Tuff would walk away from it so it would all be ok, he left the dining area and walked into the corridor his room was in, he saw Friga's door was closed, he thought long about what he should do, now he was close to his bedroom he felt his lack of sleep catching up with him and from what he saw last night the bed in his room was pretty large and comfy looking, he wondered if he should leave talking to Astrid till later, it would give him time to clear his head and wake up a bit, but he didn't have to make that choice,

the door opened and Astrid walked out, she had the look on her face which told him something was annoying here badly 'hey' he said and saw Astrid jump slightly 'oh Hiccup, hey good morning...are you just going to bed?' she said quickly, Hiccup nodded 'yeah, it's been a long night' he said

Astrid nodded 'ok, so, uh i spoke to Fishlegs he said it was a quiet night here, did you see anything from your spot' Hiccup wasn't surprised, Astrid was focused on her mission, like he had expected of her, he was grateful in fact that meant he wouldn't have to bring up his feelings, when they were talking about dangerous events they were on safe territory, he realised Astrid was staring at him strangely and it took him a bit longer to figure out it was because he was staring at her

'oh uh yeah, all quiet too, i saw Fishlegs already, he's going to sleep in the cave with the dragons, i think it'll be best, i don't trust the Hardheads enough to leave them unguarded, so one of us should always be near them' Hiccup said,

Astrid nodded 'i'll take over from him tonight, i wanna see Stormfly anyway' Hiccup yawned, Astrid smiled 'and maybe you should go get some sleep'

Hiccup nodded in agreement 'i'll try be up before evening, can you see about sending some food to Fishlegs' he said, 'sure' Astrid said with a smile and patted his arm softly, 'sweet dreams' she said,

he should have taken that as his cue to leave, but he didn't move, he couldn't, something was different about Astrid, but he didn't know what, it was like he was looking at her, but there was something new, or something he hadn't noticed before and that was news he'd spent most of his childhood staring at her, he saw a red tint gloss over her cheeks, ' _is she blushing?_ ' he thought, he shook his head, this was awakward beyond awkward and he had better go before it got worse,

'so, yeah, i'll...just, uh go to sleep' he said, Astrid cleared her throat, 'i should get back to Friga, she's trying on gowns for today'

'hence the bored look on your face' he joked, Astrid laughed 'you think that's bad you should have been around when she asked me what i thought of her hair'

' _hair...THAT'S IT, her hair is different_ ' he thought, and it was, she looked beautiful,

'i like your hair like that' he heard his own voice and instantly felt like crushing his own voice box,

'oh, uh' she said as she brushed her hair softly with her fingers, 'i just fancied a change,...thanks for noticing' she looked down at her feet, ' _IDIOT_ ' he thought as an awkward silence fell over them

Hiccup grabbed the chance the silence presented 'well i gotta get to sleep now, i'll see you later bye' he quickly walked down the corridor and threw the dor to his room open and shot inside slamming the door behind him,

Hiccup leaned against the door and banged the back of his head against it, 'i like your hair' he groaned, this wasn't going to be as simple as he thought, he forgot about his greatest enemy, himself, how was he going to tell her how he felt, when he couldn't talk to her about anything other than Dragons without sounding like an idiot, he unbuckled his sword belt and dropped it on the bed, then he unbuckled his jerkin and slid it off followed by his shirt without caring where he was falling he just collapsed and somehow luckily landed on the bed, he noticed the sheets and pillows carried Astrid's scent, he fluffed up a pillow and slammed his head into it, her scent just brought images to his mind ones of her lying next to him and holding her, with these images he quickly dozed off into a peaceful sleep

 **Astrid POV**

it was around noon that day when Astrid was practically falling asleep herself, Friga's day was beyond boring sewing lessons, etiquette lessons, singing lessons and cooking lessons, all things Astrid could passibly do, but the level of which Friga had to learn was exhausting for her to watch, right now she was learning apothecary and even Snotlout himself seemed to have given up staring dreamly at Friga and had switched to masking his yawning and kicking Tuff in the leg to keep him awake, Astrid looked away from the two muttonheads and out the nearby window, she thought the pleasant image of seeing Friga's face fall when she came out of her room earlier expecting to see Hiccup and saw only her would last long, but it had died out after two hours, Astrid had tried not to get a thrill out of Hiccup being away from Friga, but it was so hard not to, this girl was beginning to get on her nerves, everything was about Hiccup to her, in her sewing lessons she wanted to make a new shirt for him, in her singing lesson she wanted to know Hiccups favourite song so she could sing it and her cooking lessons had all been about Hiccup's favourite foods, Astrid had refused to answer for all of these topics, luckily the boys didn't actually know so they couldn't answer anyway and her response was to say ' _do you even know him at all?_ ' in a sneery way, she was lucky Astrid hadn't picked up one of the knives and stabbed her with it, of course she knew the answers, to all of them actually, she was very annoyed, and also worried, Hardhitr had made it clear apparently, no union between Hiccup and Friga, so why was Friga being so open with her apparent crush on Hiccup, if word got back to Hardhitr about this, Astrid didn't like to think about what might happen to Hiccup, she felt a nudge in her ribs from Snotlout and she snapped out of her reverie, 'what is it?' she asked

'lessons over, time to get something to eat' Snotlout said, she looked over is shoulder and saw Tuff and Friga waiting for her, she stood up 'let's go', together the four young vikings left the study room and entered the dining hall where a hog roast was on the fire pit in the centre of the hall, Astrid noticed the usual glares and whispers as they entered, Snotlout went off the get them some food while Friga, Tuff and her sat at the head table,

'how are you finding life here so far?' Friga asked casually

keeping up pleasantries, wasn't in Astrid skill set, but she answered as peacefully as she could, 'it's different, warmer' she shrugged as she spoke, she couldn't answer with hate it here,

Friga didn't seem to notice how non commital her answer had been, 'yes i been told Berk seems to have less luck with the weather than us, suppose it makes you harder, but must be a nightmare for your hair' Astrid would have gladly shoved a fork into her own hand to escape what was more than likely going to be a fashion do and dont run down of her appearance and she had to fight the even stronger urge to say Hiccup likes how her hair looked,

' _Thor, what am i twelve...and how does this cow keep getting under my skin so much_ ' she asked herself, and why did it always come back to Hiccup, why couldn't she get him out of her mind for more than ten mnutes at a time,

e was saved from further mind arguments, by Snotlout, who placed two plates on the table infront of them, Astrid noticed he was flexing his arms as he did so ' _sure go ahead_ ' she thought, usually she was the first to stop Snotlout's attempts to show himself off, but now it actually brought a bit of comedy to an otherwise upsetting situation,

'so M'lady' Snotlout said, 'does the village have a place for training, i need to stretch my muscles out' he flexed again and Friga grimaced 'why...yes, we do sir' she stood up from her lunch, Astrid too stood, thanks to Snotlout her appetite seemed to disappear,

Tuff it seemed didn't he had already began throwing food into his mouth, looking up from his shovelling 'wha ahh eee oing uhmwer' he said with his mouth full,

'we're going to the training field Snotboat would like to see them' Friga said,

Snotlout grinned widely 'actually it's Snotlout, but hey, you can call me whatever you like' Astrid rolled her eyes and together the group left the hall,

it wasn't far to the training area, it was a large square patch of grass in the courtyard, Astrid looked around, she saw Archery and knife throwing practive on one side of the field, while on the other they were practicing sword and axe techniques, she looked up at the hall and saw Hiccup's balcony above them, with all the racket going on in the training area she wondered if he was up yet, all the clanging and groaning should have been enougn to wake Nott ( _norse goddess of night_ ), she continued to stare at the balcony until her mind yelled ' _head out of Hiccups bedroom_ ',

she came back to herself yet again and saw in the centre of the field a large fenced off area, which Friga was excitedly pointing at 'oh look, it's my brother, he is training the new recruits today' Friga charged off the fenced off area,

as they reached it Astrid saw Hardkickr was indeed training a bunch of young men no older than sixteen or younger, well if beating the snot out of them could be called training that is, by her own standards, even Astrid foudn it too excessively violent, she took another look around the field and noticed something else that was off, 'Friga, where are the Shieldmaidens training?' she asked

Friga laughed loudly 'oh i'm sorry i should have explained earlier. women in this tribe, don't fight, we are taught how to be good wives and only trained with basic fighting skills'

'why doesn't your father want women to fight?' Astrid asked, she did find this quite insulting

'my mother was a Shieldmaiden, one of our finest, during a raid by the Outcasts, she was killed, after that, my father refused any shieldmaidens to be trained'

Astrid looked at Friga, she was amazed that the girl could talk so candidly of her own mother's death, like it wasn't even painful, she looked back at the training square, Hardkickr was now fighting four trainee's at once, his fighting style wasn't too bad, she hated to admit it, almost a perfect combination of speed and strength, now she wasn't looking at him in a hateful way she noticed he had roughly the same build as Dagur except being taller and slightly bigger,

'he's incredible isn't he?' she heard Friga ask, Astrid nodded, 'yes, he's quite skilled'

'pfft big deal, i could take him down' Astrid looked at Snotlout who stood with his arms crossed looking furious

'unlikely' Friga laughed, 'my brother is our finest warrior, none on the island can beat him and he has yet to face an enemy he hasn't defeated'

Snotlout squared his shoulders, 'well, i'm not from this island and he hasn't faced me yet', Snotlout jumped over the wooden barrier and entered the fighting ring,

'hey you' Snotlout said pointing at Hardkickr, who lowered his shield 'i wanna talk to you' Snotlout got right into his face, 'sheds, you gave us sheds to sleep in, i am Snotlout Jorgensen, one of the most skilled warrior families on all of Berk, i don't sleep in sheds, so i suggest you fix this problem before i...' he didn't get a chance to finish, Hardkickr tripped Snotlout up and held his foot to his chest

'is that it?' Hardkickr said as he kept Snotlout down, 'are those the skills i must trust my sister to' Astrid's hand moved to the throwing axes on her belt, she was ready to make that smug smile on Hardkickr's face permanent, Hardkickr laughed and said 'tell you what let's make a wager, if you aren't happy with the accommodation' he pressed his foot into Snotlout's chest 'if any of you... Riders, can bring me down, i'll make sure you all get rooms in the hall'

Hardkickr released him, and stepped back, 'hand him a weapon' he bellowed, one of the guards drew his sword and dropped it on the ground next to Snotlout who was slowly getting to his feet, his face was very red and Astrid found herself, for the first time in her life, rooting for him

'come on Jorgensen, let me see more of your skills' Hardkickr laughed, Snotlout raised his sword and ran straight at him, Hardkickr stepped right and as Snotlout passed him , he swung his sword right at Snotlout's exposed back, acting faster than she ever had before, Astrid drew her throwing axe from her belt and with precise aim, knocked the sword from his hand,

'COWARD!' she yelled as she too jumped over the barrier and entered the ring, Hardkickr's faces was red with fury, 'what did you call me?' he growled

'stabbing someone while their back is turned is the act of a coward' she roared, hardkickr laughed and looked at Snotlout, who was stood dumbfounded by her actions ' _oh Thor_ ' she thought, ' _this is going to make him ten times worse_ '

'lucky your girlfriend has some skills Jorgensen, left by yourself you wouldn't last five seconds' Hardkickr laughed, then he looked back at Astrid, 'you truly are a disgrace girl, first you ride a dragon, then you fight better than your beloved, woman should know their place'

Astrid clenched her fists 'Snotlout, sword, NOW' she roared, clearly he could see she was in no mood for arguments, he threw the sword and Astrid caught it, charging right at Hardkickr, who again simply dodged her strike, 'i don't fight girls' Hardkickr said with a smug smile on his face,

Astrid raised her sword, 'and you're not, you said any of the Riders, i am a rider, now do you fight or are you really the coward i think you are', that seemed to do it, he swung fast at her, she barely managed to duck out of the way and recover before he was making several hard swings at her, she deflected them all but he was taking ground from her with each strike, she had to step back, she knew he was herding her, making her step where he wanted her to step, this was his ring, he knew it better than her, suddenly she felt at a huge disadvantage, still he pushed her make swipes with his sword and hammering her blade with his shield, her speed was all that was keeping her in this fight, she would have to get control of it, but Hardkickr wasn't giving much away, his footwork was perfect, his form was the same and he just kept coming leaving no opening for her to take advantage of,

finally it seemed she had reached where he wanted her to be...her foot slipped on something, mud or a slipery stone, she didn't know, but it didn't matter either, what mattered was that she lost balance for a split second, giving Hardkickr the opening he needed and pushed forward with the edge of his shield, catching her in the gut, the air rushed out of her lungs and she fell down hard, the sword fell out of her loose grip and before se culd recover, Hardkickr stood laughing over her, she expected a insult or some kind of told you so, but instead Hardkickr simply raised his shield and and swung it down hard towards her face,

Astrid tried to move, but she felt frozen, the shield was inches from her face, she almost felt her nose break already, this was gonna hurt, but before it could land, the underside of a different shield suddenly blocked her view, the was the sound of something being hit hard and as the shield moved from her eyesight and she felt sunlight on her face,

She saw Hiccup standing there, his sword drawn and he had a hard look on his face,

'don't touch her again' he ordered loudly and he rushed hard at Hardkickr and barreled right into him, Astrid pushed herself up and watched open mouthed as Hiccup made Hardkickr stumble backwards and released a relentless stream of swings, cuts and jabs at him, 'YEAH GO HICCUP' Tuff shouted, Astrid looked around, it seemed every guard and trainee, was watching the fight, she slowly got up and bumped into Snotlout who dragged her out of the ring,

once she was over the wooden fence, she noticed the sound of clanging had stopped, she turned around expecting to see Hiccup on his back, but instead, she saw Hiccup and Hardkickr were just standing looking at one another, she wondered what the pause was for,

until she saw Hardkickr spit blood out of his mouth, 'i accept your challenge' he growled, he dropped his sword and shield and took off his armour, Astrid noticed for the first time Hiccup wasn't wearing his usual leather jerkin, just his red shirt, ' _Odin no_ ' she thought, Hardkickr picked his sword and shield back up and together he and Hiccup circled one another,

'so, she's yours then is she' Hardkickr laughed, 'seems you're not enough for her, perhaps i will be'

Astrid started to climb over the fence, but Snotlout stopped her, 'it's a challenge Astrid, you can't interfere' Astrid argued with herself to stop the fight or not, the customs had to be respected it was law, but since when did customs mean much to Hiccup, it was Hiccup's voice saying 'are we going to fight or are you gonna talk all day' Astrid was amazed, Hiccup was fighting, not only that he was starting a fight, since when did he start a fight

'you have balls boy, how shall we do this' Hardkickr said, Hiccup raised his sword, 'first blood from the torso' Hardkickr nodded 'and the stakes are the girl, the winner claims her as his own' 'NOW HOLD ON' Astrid shouted, she wasn't a thing to be won and she knew Hiccup knew that,

'agreed' Hiccup said, 'what' she gasped 'huh' Snotlout said 'mmmfffmmmm' Tuff mumbled through his full mouth, and it started, Hardkickr and Hiccup continued to circle, both held shield raised and sword ready, after a short while Hiccup slipped slightly exposing his neck, Hardkickr lunged forward, Hiccup raised his shield and swung his sword out from under it, Hardkickr stepped back barely missing the swing of Hiccup's sword and then Hiccup went on the offensive, he hit hard and fast, Astrid had no idea what was making him fight so hard, she only hoped it would hold up,

Hardkickr himself seemed genuinely shocked at the ferocity of the attacks, clearly like others before him, he had judged Hiccup as a toothpick and dismissed him, the two continued on for a while, neither one gaining the upper hand,

Astrid watched closely, she had seen Hiccup in training but it was nothing compared to what she saw now, she felt something new inside her, it was strange almost like an urge, but not to fight, she wanted to see what else Hiccup was skilled at ' _oh Thor...am i, turned on_ ' the shaking in her stomach and a sudden heat between her legs told her, yes she was, with that realisation, she now looked at Hiccup differently, her concentration slipped from watching him fight, to just watching him, ' _when did his butt get so nice_ ' she asked herself, this time she didn't think her usual ' _silly_ ', there wasn't a point to it anymore, ' _i love him_ ' she answered without asking the question of why she was reacting this way, because it had been the true answer to all her questions of why she didn't want him to marry someone elseand why she didn't like Friga's crush on him and by Thor, if letting go of her stupidity was what she had to do to be with him, well it was more than let go of,

as she stood letting her mind wander, it was brought back hard and fast when hardkickr landed a lucky strike and cut Hiccup on his arm,

'Hiccup!' she yelled climbing over the barrier, but once again being pulled back, this time by both Tuff and Snotlout, 'stay out of this Astrid, he'll be fine, he's lasted longer than either of us, Hiccup's got this' Snotlout said sternly

Astrid struggled against the hold the two had on her, Hiccup seemed unable to lift his right arm, the one which held his shield, Hardkickr pressed his advantage and delivered a kick to Hiccup's shield, which Hiccup dropped groaning in pain and Hardkickr struck again, Hiccup defended himself from the attack, but it was now an uneven fight, whenever Hiccup would block hardkickr's sword with his own, he was dealt a hard blow from the shield, once such blow to his gut made hiccup drop his sword and fall to the ground, Hardkickr raised his hands in victory and the crowd cheered at the sight, while Astrid felt tears form in her eyes,

' **get up Hiccup** ' Tuff shouted, ' **yeah get up** , **show him what Berk is made of** ' Snotlout followed,' **get up Hiccup** ' she shouted, Hiccup wasn't looking at them, his back was to her, but she knew he heard, his head lifted up as Hardkickr threw away his shield and prepared to swing his sword at Hiccup, who moved faster than she had ever seen anyone move and caught Hardkickr's right arm and followed after by swinging his left fist and catching Hardkickr firmly in the jaw, who stepped back dazed from the strike and using it to his advantage, Hiccup sprinted over to his sword, Hardkickr hard in pursuit, Hiccup slipped on a stone, probably the same one she did earlier and he landed hard on his chest, but his left hand landed barely an inch from his sword, Hardkickr bared down on him, raising his sword high, Hiccup got to his knees and swung hard around, she didn't know if it was his strength, or the gronckle iron sword or a combination of both, Hiccup's sword sliced straight through Hardkickrs and as the sword fell from hardkickr's hand, Hiccup swung again the other way,

before Hardkickr could jump back out of it's reach, the crowd around the ring went silent as the tip of Hiccup's sword sliced across Hardkickr's torso, cutting his shirt and leaving a very thin but visible line of blood in it's wake, he stepped back holding a hand to the cut, Hiccup stood at his full height as the silence around the ring was broken,

'YES' Astrid screamed, Tuff and Snotlout finally released her and started clapping, she vaulted over the fence and ran to Hiccup, who was slowly getting up 'are you okay' she asked as she helped him up straight, he nodded, 'oh yeah, just a bit sore in places' she laughed and threw her arms around him, she looked over his shoulder to Hardkickr who had already left the ring very quickly, he pushed guards out of his way as the Riders came up to them laughing,

'wow the one hit Hiccup...hits again' Tuff said, she let go of Hiccup and they stared at their friends, Friga pushed through the two and pushed Astrid away to hug Hiccup 'that was incredible no one has ever beaten my brother' Hiccup squirmed and quickly pulled Friga's arms off him 'thanks' he said simply,

'you're bleeding, i should tend to that' Friga said, as she gently touched the cut on Hiccup's arm Astrid grabbed Hiccups left hand and pulled him towards her, 'no i should' she said,

'but i have healer training' Friga said grabbing hold of Hiccup's wounded arm, Astrid resisted the urge to punch the girl in the face and simply responded, 'but it wouldn't be proper for you to tend to him' she said through gritted teeth, Astrid was sure Friga was trying to give her an evil look, but it looked more like she had mutton stuck in her teeth

'uh exucse me' Hiccup said, 'i think i can look after it myself' he wrestled his arms from their grips,

Astrid felt relieved that he didn't want Friga looking at his wound, but also insulted that he didn't want her too either, as she watched him practically run away from them and into the hall, she thought ' _DAMN_ ' and looked at Friga whose face showed she seemed to be thinking the same thing, she would have liked to follow Hiccup anyway, but she couldn't leave Snotlout and Tuff to guard Hiccup, there was already going to be trouble with Hardhitr because of the fight, she didn't want to add fuel to the fire by breaking their word and leaving Friga guarded by the boys only,

but Odin seemed to be on her side tonight, in the form of Ruff making a sudden appearance at the same door Hiccup had rushed into,

Astrid smiled and called her over, 'hey, what's going on?' Ruff asked as she walked right up to the group, 'did something happen' she looked around for answers, Astrid smiled wider, 'tell you what Ruff, you go with Tuff and Snotlout, they will explain everything to you' she said and then turned to Friga, 'now that you have a woman guarding you too, i can tend to Hiccup excuse me' she said and rushed off for the hall, smiling widely at the disappointed scowl Friga shot her as she said that,

 **Hiccup POV**

Back in Hiccup's room, he was sat on the bed holding a cloth to the cut on his arm, he sat thinking about how stupid he must be, Astrid probably thought he was an ass now too, but when he had looked down from his balcony and saw her starting a fight with Hardkickr he had to step in, he didn't want her to get hurt was all and he didn't know why he had agreed to the terms that were set, Hiccup had won Astrid in a fight, if there was ever a way to guarantee her never returning his feelings...he had just managed it, she had seemed fine after the fight, probably because, it wasn't a real deal, even though she was of age, her parents would still have to agree to a duel that claimed her, but he guessed pretty soon she would come barreling into the room and start yelling at him for thinking she was a prize or something, ' _oh boy_ ' he thought, this was gonna be difficult, he removed the clother from his wound, the bleeding wasn't bad he just needed a simple bandage to keep it clean, he dropped the cloth and stood up starting to peel off his shirt, when he heard his door creak, he turned and Astrid stood there,

'Astrid...uh' he stopped taking off his shirt, he didn't need a repeat of last time, 'what are you doing here?, you're supposed to be with Friga' he said,

Astrid stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, 'you're more important' she said and quickly she crossed the room and threw her arms around his waist and held onto him tightly, when she had made the dash he was expecting a punch to the jaw, so he was more than shocked by the hug, he lowered his arms and hugged her back, 'is your arm bad' her voice asked, his head was spinning from the close contact, so he struggled for a second to say something, 'no, it barely hit me, just need to keep it clean' he said, she released him, 'ok' she said stepping back and going to his saddle bags, which had been delivered earlier in the day, she opened one and found the healer kit he had brought with them, 'sit down...and take your shirt off' she said he saw the faintest blush spread on her cheeks, but he did what he was told, he sat on the bed and slowly took his shirt off, 'i'm gonna need to repair that' he said as he dropped the red shirt on the bed, it was a silly topic of conversation, but it was the best he could think of to ease what was going to be quite an awkward few moments, her eyes seemed glued to the healer bag in her hands as she sat beside him and then looked at his wound 'well, you could just wear the green shirt, you look better in green' she said as she took out some bandages and a few of Gothi's ointments, they stung slightly as she aplied them, but he was more focused on the electric current he felt from her fingers on his naked flesh,

as Astrid finished tying up the bandage around the cut, he caught her shoot a quick glance at his chest and she froze mid tying and gasped, her right hand dropped the cloth it held and touched his bare stomach, luckily she was touching his stomach if she were touching his heart she would feel how fast it was beating, 'does this hurt' she asked, not taking her hand off his chest, 'no, it feels good' he said,

she lifted her eyes from his chest and looked into his own, 'i meant, the red mark' looking donw at his stomach he saw what she meant he had a long red mark running right across it, 'oh no, barely feel it' he said, telling the truth he hadn't noticed it 'just took the wind out of me' he said with a slight shrug,

he and Astrid had not broken eye contact and now they sat just staring at one another, the air suddenly became very thick and Hiccup had trouble getting air into his lungs, her eyes and her hand on his naked chest were robbing him of anything else but her, 'Hiccup, i need to tell you some...' she didn't get to finish, he threw all caution to the wind and just kissed her as hard as he could,

the kiss didn't last long before they broke apart, Hiccups heart was thundering in his chest now, this was a first for him, he had started the kiss, usually she grabbed him, he noticed there was a look of utter shock on her face and she looked dazed 'i'm sorry' was all he could manage to say,

Astrid sat stock still, he saw her tongue lick her lips as if she was tasting the kiss he left on them and then she pushed Hiccup hard, he fell flat onto the bed and Astrid climbed ontop of him, 'i'm not' she said before she threw herself on his lips and they kissed passionately, heat burned from his lips to his loins and quickly he felt something in his trousers get very hard 'oh damn' he thought, her kiss made his head spin but sense quickly returned as soon as he realised her position on top of him would not go down well, okay true she had climbed ontop of him and he knew he was beyond lucky to be feelings her lips on his own, but if she felt that traitor in his slacks, she might think ' _oh Thor_ ' his mind screamed as it began to draw a picture, one of Astrid ontop of him, neither of them wearing clothes and he was putting his erection to good use, stirred by this picture his body acted of it's own accord, his tongue slid into Astrid's mouth and found her's she moaned softly as he started to massage it with his own and his hands which had been laying on the bed moved only they weren't wrapping themselves around Astrid, instead their target seemed to be her butt, they moved up her shapely legs, which felt divine, and slid under her studded skirt and found what they were looking for, she didn't react to the bravery of his hands so he took control of them and rubbed her butt softly, she continued to kiss him and her tongue now seemed to be fighting his for dominance, as expected with Astrid, everything had to be a contest of who was better and trying his luck more than he probably should have, he squeezed her butt softly at first then a little harder, finally she broke the kiss and sat up on his crotch, her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open, he was frozen solid now, of course with his hands still firmly gripping her butt and she remained sat on his hard erection, 'Hiccup' she gasped lightly,

'sorry' he said again, finally gaining control of his limbs he removed his hands from the pert mounds of flesh and she moved fast, but not off him she grabbed his hands and placed them on her breasts, she squeezed his hands which in turn made them clench her breasts softly, she continued adding and releasing pressure to his hands and making them massage her breasts softly and she started to move, up and down on his erection, he responded by thrusting his hips in time with her movements and her gasps of pleasure spurred him on and soon he didn't need her hands to guide him on how to feel her breasts, they seemed to be doing the job on their own again and her hands slid down his arm and braced themselves on his chest, a strange smile lit her face up and he was sure it was mirrored on his own, she gasped heavily and he felt heat in his lap as she quickened her rubbing,

there was a loud bang and someone's voice shouted 'Hiccup, Astrid we got... **ahhhh** ' he shot up straght and banged his head against Astrid's who yelped slightly and fell back off his lap and onto the floor, he turned round and saw Fishleg's back standing in the doorway 'FISHLEGS!' he yelled,

'sorry, sorry, i didn't know you two were...' 'shut up Fishlegs' Astrid's voice yelled and he saw her walking around the bed rubbing her forehead, he stood up from the bed and grabbed a shirt from his bag and threw it on quickly, 'what is it?' Hiccup asked, surprised at the anger in his own voice, with his back still facing them Fishlegs said 'we got a problem Hiccup' 'turn arund Fishlegs' he and Astrid said in unison, both weren't loking at each other, but Hiccup knew her face must be bright red right now, Fishlegs turned slowly, 'sorry guys, but there's a fire in the lower village, i didn't know you two were...otherwise i would have knocked'

Astrid growled, 'shut up fishlegs, you ever tell anyone what you saw those wil be the last words you speak, now what about this fire'

Fishlegs gulped, 'it's bad' he said simply, Hiccup raced across the room and onto the balcony, he saw black smoke and small dots which he assumed were people rushing around in the lower half of the village, 'oh my Odin' he heard Astrid saw, a large explosion suddenly burst out and even from the distance they were Hiccup felt the heat on his face,

'we have to help them' Astrid said, Hiccup looked at her for the first time and nodded, 'alright, Dragon calls now, when they get here, go collect water as much as they can carry' Hiccup pushed past the two and headed back into his room and grabbed his sword from the table he had left it on, 'what are you going to do?' Fishlegs asked as he and Astrid entered the room behind him

'i'm going to help on the ground, Astrid fly Toothless, we'll have to leave Ruff, Tuff and Snotlout with Friga, this could be a diversion to kidnap her and let's not take that chance, i'll find them and tell them to stay where they are, call the dragons NOW' he ordered, Astrid nodded and returned to the balcony and he heard her Nadder call sound out,

'Hiccup, you know Hardhitr won't like this' Fishlegs warned,

'well how much worse can it get, i beat his undefeated son, so he probably wants to kill me and his daughter is mad about me, which will probably make him want to kill me, but i'm not letting innocent people get killed, so Dragons go' Hiccup ran out his door before Fishlegs could say anything else,

Hiccup raced through the hallway, thinking this day had gone from bad to good to even worse and soon he'd be facing Hardhitr's wrath...sometimes he just couldn't catch a damn break

 **there we are, sorry this took so long, there will be more hopefully soon, please review, my first slight Lemon scene, lemme know what you thought**


	7. Chapter 7 - Fire Fought Fire Lit

**Chapter 7 - Fire Fought, Fire lit**

Dagur the Deranged stood at the bow of his boat his back to the fog that stretched out for miles ahead of him, he was tired, he saw the flaw of his sneak by Berk in the fog bank plan, it was a good plan, but so boring, he picked up a knife and threw it at a picture of Hiccup nailed to the mast, so far none of the knives had even scratched the drawing 'YARGHHHHHH!' Dagur yelled and threw another knife this time missing the mast completely and almost stabbing Savage in the back of his head, Dagur groaned and just walked up to the drawing and ripped it up, nothing, no word from Hardhead Island or sign of Hiccup and his little gang in the sky, he swore to Loki, if his carefully thought out plan failed this time, he was going to,

'Sir' Savage said, 'WHAT!' Dagur yelled 'i'm having a moment Savage, never interrupt my moments, i've told you before...why aren't we out of the fog bank yet' Dagur grabbed a spyglass from a passing soldier and kicked him overboard 'thanks' he said calmly and raised it to his eye, they were close enough to the edge of the fogbank he would be able to see out of it, but no one would be able to see him inside, 'one whole day we've been sneaking around, why havent i got Hiccup's blood on my axe yet...WILL YOU SAY SOMETHING' he shot round to face Savage who jumped, 'sorry sir, i just wanted to say, we are finally out of sight of the last of Berk's sentries' Dagur grabbed him by his shirt front 'and you telling me this NOW, you should have interrupted my moment, i've told you before, if it's important...or there's mead, INTERRUPT MY MOMENTS'

'yes sir' Savage whimpered, Dagur released him 'good, now' he crossed his arms and walked back to the bow, 'give the order, we leave the fogbank, also anyword from Hardhead Island' 'no sir, not since you sent the eagle back out' Savage said taking a step back and Dagur turned round slowly and smiled widely, 'okay, you can't have too much of a good thing, no word means they're still there'

'yes sir' Savage visibly relaxed and Dagur walked past him, 'Savage?, where's the deck watchman, he's not at his post, find him and throw him overboard' he said, 'but sir...you already did that'

Dagur thought for a second and looked at the spyglass he was holding, he shrugged 'oh ok, well if he turns up on any of the other ships, cut his throat...no, bring him to me...i'll cut his throat, he could give away our presence here if he's found drifting, actually, better not risk it, send the order, shoot him in the water, bring him on board tie a rock to his feet and dump him back overboard' with that Dagur walked to the mast and picked up a piece of paper and drew another drawing, 'oh dear brother, soon, i will have your head as my prize, your dragon as my boots and all of Berk kissing them hehehehehehe' he stabbed the picture on the mast, it showed a badly drawn Dagur dancing around holding a head.

 **BERK**

Gobber stood leaning against a table in his shop, he flicked through the designs Hiccup had given him for the new saddle, they were complex, the new mechanism for controlling Toothless' tailfin was proving difficult, the saddle itself was finished and resting against a pillar by the door, the locking mechanism was simple enough, but the sliding prong used to control the spread of the tail was growing to be a huge pain in his ass, the metal would have to be thin and strong so Gronkle iron was the obvious choice, but he just couldn't hammer it into the shapes needed for the job,

Gobber wondered if he would have to forget his usual make something and pound it into shape technique and forge it from a mould, he put the designs down and stared at the five other partly made saddles lying round the shop, one for each of the riders, he hadn't done anything fun like a flamethrower or a horn this time, he had kept them simple and so far they were looking good

'Evening Gobber' he heard and looked in the doorway of the shop to see his old friend entering with a wide grin on his face, 'Stoick!, how you doin' Gobber shook his hand, 'thought you would still be asleep' Stoick had got back from Hardhead Island earlier that day looking tired,

Stoick shrugged 'can't sleep Gobber, lots to do' Gobber shrugged too, 'you're the chief', he said, 'so how did it do, i bet Hardhitr wasn't too pleased?' he asked

'well hardly the warmest welcome, but this is a new way of life we're building Gobber, can't expect open arms just yet' Stoick stated 'and we'll need allies, Dagur is out there and he'll come for Hiccup, we need to be ready when he does' Gobber nodded, Dagur was a constant problem these days, he had raided alot of islands and amassed a huge fleet from what reports they did hear, Gobber doubted even with the dragons they would be able to fight back,

Gobber looked at Stoick and noticed him leaning over his shoulder, he looked behind him and saw the saddles, 'how are they coming along' Stoick asked as he walked around Gobber to look closer,

'all pretty simple, should be better for long journey's, added a bit more support for the twins, can't have them carrying on just dangling their legs over their dragon's necks' Gobber said, as Stoick knelt down and touched the leg supports on the twin's saddles, 'good Gobber...and how about Astrid's saddle' he stood and walked over to the half finished saddle, Gobber looked at his friend 'coming along nicely, thought of a kind of handle she could use to steer Stormfly, might be useful in situations' he said as he eyed Stoick appreciating the work, 'good, that's good, help keep her a bit safer, don't want anything bad happening do we'

Stoick stood up and dusted off his hands, 'and Gobber, do you think you could make her a new axe, something different, a bit more decrative, maybe a Nadder head kind of pommel on the end of the shaft and i'll pay for the saddle as well' Gobber felt his jaw drop, while he knew Stoick to be generous, as well as hardheaded and stubborn, he had never offered to pay for a job for someone who wasn't himself or Hiccup...come to think of it, he'd never paid for any job Gobber did, perk of being the Chief,

'alright...what is it?' Gobber asked leaning back against the bench, Stoick had the look of a man who was about to deny something... and then Ingrid Hofferson, Astrid's mother, raced into the shop 'Stoick' she said and quickly she hugged him, 'Odin be praised, Wynn just told me, don't you worry, not a word will pass out of my lips...oh hi Gobber' she said as she noticed him for the first time, 'hello Ingrid' Gobber said, the woman was the spitting image of her daughter, except for her eyes, she carried the eyes of her father, Astrid carried the eyes of Ingrid's mother, Darla the desirable, he noticed Ingrid was smiling, wide, infact she looked like she wouldn't stop smiling ever, he looked between Ingrid and Stoick, both had the same smile and strange proud look in their eyes, he wondered what would make Astrid's mother and Hiccup's father so happy and proud and he felt it hit him like a Meatlug hug, his jaw dropped open,

'Stoick...you didn't?' he asked, Ingrid looked confused at his reaction and the smille wavered from her face, 'uhhh Ingrid, would you excuse us for a second' Stoick said, Ingrid nodded, 'of course, but Wynn wanted me to remind you about dinner at ours tonight, my mother's wild boar stew'

Stoick smiled, 'i wont forget, haven't had your mothers stew in years and tell Wynn i'll also remember to bring the mead' Ingrid nodded and left the shop quickly, Stoick turned his smiling face to Gobber and shrugged again 'what?' he asked,

Gobber crossed his arm over his hammer hand, 'Stoick, did you start a marriage pledge with the Hoffersons' Stoick simply nodded 'yes, but don't tell anyone yet'

'and when may i ask are you going to inform Hiccup and Astrid they're engaged, on the wedding day perhaps, _good mornin son lots to do today and by the way you're getting married, come on up you get_ '

'they're not engaged Gobber, all i did was speak to Wynn about the kids is all, he agreed they're a good match...and if they were to ever want to marry one another, he wouldn't object, no official contract has been made, just an understanding'

Gobber wondered if the dubiousness he felt showed on his face, Stoick threw his arms wide and said 'oh come on Gobber, i know you see it too, those two are mad for each other, nothing wrong with making it easier for them'

Gobber couldn't deny it, hell he had a bet with Mulch and Bucket about how much longer they could go before they finally got together, 'Stoick' he started, 'you know i'm as happy as you are at the thought of those two together' Stoick nodded, 'but...have you thought about them perhaps not wanting to admit what's between them'

Gobber saw Stoick's face fall slightly, he turned his back on Gobber and looked out a window 'yeah, i've thought about it...alot, and everytime i do i remember how i was around Valka, couldn't tell her how i felt and when i finally managed to do it, she accepted me, i think back to all that time wasted Gobber, if i hadn't been so afraid, i could have had longer with Val'

'i don't want that for him Gobber' Stoick turned around furiously 'we're Vikings, bottom line is we die anytime for any reason and i don't want Hiccup or Astrid to lose the other and ask themselves how they would have done things differently'

Gobber was surprised by this information, he thought perhaps it was because of his advancing years Stoick was thinking about his legacy and the Haddock name carrying on after him, but it was really because he didn't want Hiccup to be hurt by loss like he had been'

Gobber walked over and placed a reassuring hand on Stoick's shoulder, 'so' he sniffed, 'an axe with a Nadder head as a pommel, should give alot of counter weight, be nice and balanced, that would be a hell of an axe' Stoick smiled, Gobber knew his friend wasn't good with feelings and saying what he had just said was as far as Stoick had ever gone, so might as well go along with his plan, if he were being honest, Gobber was almost set to lose if they weren't together by Snoggletogg, Stoick left the shop after that without a word, Gobber walked back to his table and picked up the designs he had dropped earlier, he would cast them no other way of doing it, he sat down and began to prepare for the task, he wondered now how the boy was doing, he thought one thing Stoick had said wrong Hiccup would never ask himself what could he have done differently with Astrid, Gobber knew he had done everything for the girl already and he'd gladly walk through fire for the girl.

 **Hardhead Island**

Huge clouds of smoke shot up into the evening sky on Hardhead Island, the small lower town was completely up in flames, it was mostly shops and a few houses, Hiccup had counted at least twenty houses from up the hill, people in the lower town screamed and ran madly thrugh the burning huts in an effort to escape from the flames, Hiccup however was running into them, he had found Snotlout before heading down, he had ordered him and the twins to stay put with Friga and not to leave her side no matter what, people pushed and shoved him as he ran through the crowds of people, he heard screaming and yelling, some yells were directed at him as he ran past one particular brawny looking man who yelled, ' **ya brought this on us boy, ya and yer beasts** ' Hiccup ignored these yells, he would accept them after he was sure people were alive to shout at him, he pushed his way through the back of the crowd and saw a group of guards directing people away from the worst of the flames, he headed up to them 'what can i do?' he asked, they all looked at him, 'you can go back to the hall boy, it was your beasts that started this inferno' one guard said, the others yelled in agreement, Hiccup groaned 'listen, you can blame me later, right now people are in danger what can i do to...' he didn't get to answer, there was an explosion and he heard a woman screaming, he looked towards where the explosion happened, it was a furriers shop, the front of the shop was ablaze and a woman stood outside wailing 'IGA, EVA' he ran towards the panicking woman and heard another set of screams, children, he ran up to the woman he grabbed her shoulder, 'my daughters' she screamed into his face, 'MA' he heard a little voice call out, he looked through the large open shop window and saw a small head poking up over the flames front, covering the front, the door to the right of the window was blocked by a huge beam alight with fire, and the loud creaking and crashing coming from inside told him the shop would collapse soon enough, not even thinking he drew his sword 'stay back' Hiccup shouted to the frantic mother, he raised his sword and ran right up to the beam and swung down with all his strength and once more the Gronckle Iron didn't fail him, he sliced through the beam as if it were butter, the two pieces of beam clattered to the floor and he sheathed his sword, putting all his weight into it, he threw himself against the door and it smashed open, he nearly stumbled as he entered the shop, smoke burned his eyes and he almost gagged, he covered his mouth with his right hand 'where are you' he shouted, he heard soft crying and he looked down, a girl no older then eight was holding a girl who looked to be four were kneeling down at his feet, 'come on' he shouted 'RUN' he picked the sobbing girls up and pushed them out the door and right into their mother's arms, 'get away from the shop it's coming down' he ordered, the woman picked up both girls and Hiccup led them away as the front of the shop collapsed,

Hiccup handed the family over to the guards who were standing dumbstruck, 'get them out of the lower town, are there any others down here?' he asked as the family were escorted by one guard, another young guard stepped forward, 'no, it should be all clear' Hiccup nodded and then felt water drip onto his head, he looked up as Hookfang and Barf/Belch who carried a boat between them tipped it's contents of water onto a nearby house, Stormfly and Meatlug followed soon after dropping another boats worth of water, then a black shape blocked his sight, he heard swords being drawn and stepped back to see Toothless with Astrid on his back, 'whoa stop, he won't hurt you' Hiccup held his hands up to the guards who had drawn their weapons, Toothless growled angrily at them 'not the time bud' hiccup said stepping into the Dragon's line of sight. 'Hiccup?' he looked up to Astrid, he face was black and her hair was too, 'what's it like from up there?' he asked,

'the fire wont spread up the hill, there's too big a gap for it to leap across, it's contained down here, but there are people's homes Hiccup, we have to do something' Astrid said as she climbed off Toothless,

'we'll do it like we did with the forest fire, blast houses around the fire so it can't go further, then dump as much water as we can',

'will that work' Hiccup felt a chill run down his spine, he turned and saw Hardhitr, Friga and the rest of the riders standing there, it had been Friga who asked the question, Hiccup looked at her and nodded 'it should' he answered,

'so you plan to save my village, by destroying it' Hardhitr said, Hiccup readied himself, he didn't have time to win Hardhitr over on this idea, but he was surprised when Hardhitr nodded 'fine, do it'

Hiccup didn't have time as yet again another explosion rocked out, one so loud and forceful, Hiccup and nearly everyone was knocked off their feet, Hiccup heard a strange ringing in his ears as he lay on his back, he saw a shape leaning over him, his vision was blurry and he knew the person was speaking to him, but it was like they were speaking far away, hands shook him hard, he got up slowly and the world was moving in slow motion, his vision returned slowly and he could make out Astrid beside him holding him steady and Hardhitr picking up Friga and carrying her in his arms, 'whaa...waa...atttt' Snotlout asked as he stood up, his head was bleeding slightly, the twins were just dirty, several thumps sounded out around him and Hiccup turned in a full circle to see the Dragons were surrounding them, someone shook him hard again, he looked at Astrid 'Hiccup snap out of it, we need to do something' he came back to himself his vision was still a bit off, but his hearing was back and the ringing was gone,

'guys' Fishlegs said as he jumped off Meatlug, 'that was the Whale oil storage, it's gone up and the fire is jumping over the gap'

'impossible, the oil storage is on the other side of the gap' Hardhitr yelled, 'LOOK OUT' someone yelled above them the group all looked up the hill, fiery barrels were rolling down towards them, 'out of the way' Hiccup yelled, the dragons all grabbed their riders and took to the sky, Toothless pushed Hiccup out of the path of an oncoming barrel and then shoved Hardhitr just as it rolled right past them missing them by inches, it rolled down the street and exploded shooting hot burning oil in all directions,

Hiccup stood up once again, his body ached from the push but he wouldn't complain, he would take a few bruises over being blown to bits any day of the week, the Dragons landed and placed their riders back down, 'this is getting worse' Astrid said, 'what do we do Hiccup?' Tuffnut and Ruffnut asked,

'same plan as before, we blast any buildings around the fire, make a trench wide enough for it to be unable to cross, we save what we can, GO' every rider climbed onto their Dragons, while Hiccup helped Hardhitr up, who was still holding Friga softly in his arms, 'is she ok?' Hiccup asked, 'yes, she's breathing' Hardhitr said, he looked at Hiccup 'do what you have to do boy' Hiccup nodded and got onto Toothless' back, he wiped sweat from his eyes and barely registered it was actually blood he was wiping off his face, 'HICCUP' Hardhitr shouted, 'thank you' he said, guards began to surround Hardhitr and he and Hiccup shared a nod before Toothless threw himself hard into the air,

once he was high enough, Hiccup looked down on the lower town, over two thirds of it was now burning, there was a large circle of flame higher up the hill, where he guessed the oil storage had been, Meatlug was already blasting a trench around it, he looked down the village and saw a twisting line of green smoke explode and the unmistakable magnesium flare of Stormfly continuing the line around the fire, Hookfang was on the ground, pounding his way through the town on the opposite side of the fire, only three houses were in that area, so it made sense to save his shots for now, Hiccup noticed the fire was heading towards the fishing market near the shoreline and there were more than enough houses to help the fire reach it, 'Toothless, DIVE' Toothless went into a straight dive, Hiccup directed him where he needed to go, luckily it seemed the twins had spotted the problem area too, the flew spraying a thick line of gas directly under him,

'GO FOR IT' he heard Ruff yell, 'plasma blast' Hiccup ordered, Toothless fired and Hiccup pulled out of the dive as the blast met the gas and erupted, taking back to a higher view point, the other riders all joined him, looking below he saw, the fishmarket would be safe and several houses on the other side of the lower town too were out of danger from the fire and the fire from the oil storage was contained behind a trench, villagers were already flooding back into the lower town and throwing buckets of water onto smaller fires on the safe sides of the fire line but they would be easily managed, Hiccup let out a deep breath, 'we did it' he said,

around him the riders all cheered, 'good work everyone' Hiccup said, he looked at them all. noticing all their separate injuries, 'back to the hall, we've done what we can',

the riders all flew over the town and Hiccup heard yelling as they flew overhead of the villagers, but it wasn't the kind he expected, there were cheers, behind him he heard 'Snotlout Snotlout oi oi oi' Hiccup led the group into a dive straight into the courtyard where a group of villagers cheered and made a circle so they could land safely outfront of the hall, Hardhitr was there handing an unconscious Friga to a guard, 'will she be ok?' he asked but before Hiccup could even climb off Toothless,

'FATHER' Hardkickr appeared from the crowd, 'these Riders disgrace you, they have brought their foul beasts into our village' ' _oh great, here we go again_ ' Hiccup thought, he looked at Hardhitr, who seemed to be thinking over hardkickr's words, after a short silence he spoke,

'yes, they brought their dragons into the village and indeed they destroyed more than the fire did...but they also saved lives, including mine and your sisters, so hold your tongue boy' he said turning on Hardkickr who stood his ground, Hiccup himself would have been shaken, Hardhitr's glare at his son was almost ten times worse than any his own father had ever shot at him, Hardkickr bowed his head and stormed off into the hall, pushing his way through the riders as he went, Hiccup heard Snotlout mumble 'jerk', Hiccup felt a strong hand on his shoulder and saw Hardhitr staring directly at him, 'forgive me, i was wrong' Hiccup didn't know what to do, but luckily Hardhitr took the opportunity to raise his voice, 'all those who lost their homes tonight are welcome in the hall, Riders of Berk would you honour us by taking shelter too'

'hel yeah' Snotlout laughed, a loud cheer burst out and people rush forwards to shake their hands and clap them on the back, one face Hiccup recognised was the mother of the two girls, who hugged him tightly 'thank you sir, you do not know the service you have done me' she blubbered as she released him and the lder of the two girls ran up and hugged his leg, Hiccup thanked them and as the crowd of people diminished and went into the hall, Hiccup felt a sharp punch on his arm and he turned to see Astrid 'looks like you done it again' she said laughing, 'done what?' Hiccup asked, 'changed people's minds' Astrid said proudly,

there was a deep rumbling laughter and Hiccup's knees nearly gave way as he felt a strong hand slam onto his shoulder 'yes lass, that he has' he looked at Hardhitr, 'so tell me boy, your dragons, i heard they had names Meatlug is the only one i heard' Hiccup introduced Hardhitr to each dragon, he noticed Astrid had snuck off to join the riders leaving him alone with Hardhitr, who had bowed to each dragon in turn, 'fine beasts indeed, useful in a jam' Hardhitr looked at Hiccup now, he looked like he was looking through him actually and not in a bad way, 'i remember your mother once said peace was possible with the Dragons, i laughed at her then' Hiccup looked at Hardhitr, 'my mother, you knew my mother?' he asked,

Hardhitr nodded, 'saw her a few times, on your parents joining ceremony and the day you were presented to your tribe, i remember she loved you more than anything, she damn near slapped my wife when she said you wouldn't last your first winter' Hiccup was ssurprised to see Hardhitr laughing

'ahh forgive me, you are young, you can't know just yet what it feels like to love someone completely' Hiccup looked to his left at Astrid, who was talking to the riders, 'but i could be wrong' Hardhitr laughed, Hiccup looked back at him and for once he didn't have the usual denial he kept ready, Hardhitr patted is shoulder and walked away, 'fine choice lad, dont let that one get away from ya'

leaving Hiccup to just stand and stare at Astrid, he felt a sting of jealousy as Snotlout's arm snaked it's way around her shoulders, it was making him want to punch him in the face, Astrid did her usual shrug off his arm and elbow to the ribs move, he laughed slightly and her eyes looked at him, he felt himself sink deep into a lust he could barely control, he knew his eyes must be saying how he felt, she blushed hard and shouted 'come on, let's get some food' Astrid and the others led the way into the hall

Hiccup lagged behind, he walked and just stared at Astrid's back, her hips were some kind of hypnotic tool swinging and making him obey their will, something had changed in him, never would he dare look on her in just a sexual way, he had always admired her of course, but now just the sight of her hips swaying slightly as she walked was driving him mad, he wanted to grab her, kiss her and claim her as his, he wanted to be back where he was earlier between those hips and he would never want to stop,

now that they could stop and rest after the fire, his only thought was about what had started to happen before the fire and her reaction to being caught the way they had, she hadn't wanted anyone to know what Fishlegs had seen, he froze, was she ashamed by what they were doing or was she embarrassed to have been found in that position...with him, his overactive mind created scenario after scenario each one ending with Astrid refusing to talk to him ever again and saying she was just caught up in the moment, usually he would just forget it, as with all their kisses in the past they were never spoken about, they happened and that was it no need to dwell afterwards, but now something had broken inside him, he wouldn't accept that this time, now he had had taste of her, he wanted more, he wanted to be with her, for others to know they were together, he squared his shoulders, it was time to get serious, he loved her and it was time she knew it,

he ran up the steps and caught up to the group 'Astrid' he said as he reached out and grabbed her arm, she turned and as soon as he saw her eyes, he lost the courage he had had seconds before, now he was standing with her and all the other riders staring at them, he couldn't think of the right way to act or what to say, unfortunately his mouth moved of it's own accord again 'i wanted to say...well, about earlier, before Fishlegs came in and interrupted, i just...i mean' Astrid broke his incoherent rambling by leaning up and kissing his lips softly, Hiccup heard laughter and ohh's and ahhh's around him and they broke apart a little too soon for his liking,

'oh come on, i fought the fire too' Snotlout said, 'shut up Snotlout' Fishlegs said, Astrid and he just stood staring at one another and he was surprised as she turned to stand next to him and slid her left hand into his right, 'we'll talk later' she whispered in his ear, standing back and leading him by the arm 'let's eat' and Hiccup felt like he had just won Thawfest and the Dragon races in the same day, 'uhh yeah, eating is good' he babbled, and walked hand in hand with Astrid into the hall.

 **more to come, there will be confessions, there will be mystery and there will be teasing, thank you to all the followers who have joined and those who have reviewed, hope you enjoyed this chapter, not much bringing the story forward, but proud of it**


	8. Chapter 8 - The Moment it Changes

**hello my lovelies, sorry this took so long, been sick and had to work overtime to catch up on work stuff, there will be hotness and there will be just rotten bad luck enjoy. WARNING very VERY M Rated,**

Chapter 8 - The Moment it changes

Astrid lay fast asleep in her bed, the hot night air had made her kick her cover off and she lay on her back in her nightgown, the moonlight bathed her in white light and that is what her late night visitor saw as he entered her room, the door opened and shut with barely a tap as he walked in and not even the slight metal creak that sounded out as his made his way to her bed woke her,

he stood at the foot of her bed and quickly discarded the robe he wore, he crept onto the bed and confidently placed his hand on her lower right leg, she stirred slightly at the contact and he slowly moved his hand up her leg sliding under her night gown and carressing her thigh, he leaned his head down and kissed the soft skin of her thigh, she moaned softly and her eyes slowly opened to look at him, his face rested in the shadows of the curtains but his naked body was lit up by the moonlight,

she felt his eyes on her and lay there as without a word, he moved his hand up even further, lifting her night gown and exposing her lower half, he lay his naked body next to her, his dark face inches from hers,she smelt him and heard his soft breathing and felt his hard member poke her softly in the leg, his hand paused on her upper thigh, his fingers rested between her legs, she felt they were a mere inch from her oncovered center,

she gulped hard and she slowly parted her legs to ease his access to her and was rewarded as she felt a finger rub her core softly, she reacted instantly to the sensation, she gasped and her back arched, he rubbed her softly sending shivers through her entire body and she felt a finger begining to play with her folds, rubbing around her entrance,

'y,yes' she gave an answer to an unasked question and bit her lip as his finger slid inside her, his skills with his hands were incredible, she felt his thumb move to her core and he rubbed her as his finger slid in and out of her wet pussy, she groaned loudly and his lips grazed hers she turned her head as his mouth met hers, their tongues danced madly, she broke the kiss and nearly screamed as he rubbed faster,

then his hot lips were on her neck, kissing and softly biting her flesh, she gritted her teeth as the sensations were making her near her peak,

but it seemed her visitor wouldn't let her go just yet, his fingers ceased their activities and she felt him shift his body directly between her legs, which lay wide open for him, she wrapped her legs around his waist as his member teased her entrance he kissed her hard on the lips and she felt her body quiver as he moved his member up and down over her pussy,

he broke the kiss as he shot up straight and Astrid admired his toned chest and his quite generously sized member, she smiled at the sight in front of her, she knew that chest well and moved her hands to stroke it feeling the hard toned muscles,

as his own well skilled hands moved up over her stomach, ghosted over her breasts and both hands grabbed a hold of the front of her nightgown and pulled hard, the material tore open, her breasts popped out and he froze admiring her, even though she couldn't see his face, she knew he was smiling, so she finished the job and tore her night gown straight to the bottom,

she lay back down letting him get a full view of her naked body, she heard a soft growl of desire from him 'you want me?' she asked and wrapped her legs tighter around him, 'take me' she begged, she felt ready for what he was offering her and she wanted it badly,

he lay himself softly ontop of her, her excitement building as she felt his warm weight press her into the mattress he kissed her neck and she bit her lip, prepared to fight the pain that she knew was coming

A Dragon crowed loudly, Astrid opened her eyes and shot up straight in bed, she looked around for Hiccup, but he wasnt there, she looked down and she wasn't wearing a nightgown just an old spare shirt of Hiccups, she felt a wetness between her legs and finally she realised the room was too bright for night time, looking toward the balcony door, she saw Stormfly poking her head in and flapping her wings excitedly,

'what...?, oh, damn it' she growled as she threw her self back onto the pillows and rolled over 'damn it damn it damn it' she pounded the pillow as she yelled, ' _really?'_ she thought, ' _none of that was...all of it was a dream_ ' Stormly groaned loudly and Astrid sat up again,

'i could turn you into chicken legs right now' she yelled jumping up from bed, she walked onto the balcony and saw a beautiful bright morning,

the perfect kind for an early flight, Astrid would have liked to yell at Stormfly for waking her up, but she thought better of it, a flight would get her mind off her dream and she was already awake,

she looked at Stormfly who looked at her apologetically and nudged a steaming bucket of water at her feet, 'fine, but next time don't wake me up' she grabbed the bucket and pointed her finger at the dragon who nodded quickly, 'give me a few minutes'

Astrid walked back into her room and closed the doors and shut the curtains, rotten luck, that was her problem, rotten luck, even in her dreams, she had to be interrupted, she stripped and poured the water into her wash basin and started to wash herself,

it had been two days since the fire and that night with Hiccup, and she was really getting restless, she and Hiccup had barely spoke the last two days,

mostly because of the fire in the lower town, their actions in saving the town had somehow cracked through Hardhitr's head and he was welcome to the idea of the Dragon's assisting with the repairs and rebuilding, even letting them sleep around the Hall, Hiccup had said, Hardhitr allowed it for the extra security and the get the repair work done quickly,

Astrid dipped a cloth and soap into the water and began washing her body, she wasn't looking forward to today, since the morning after the fire Hiccup and the boys had been helping with the repairs to the lower town, Hardhitr had insisted she and Ruffnut continued to guard Friga,

who was growing more and more from annoying to downright irritating, Astrid hadn't asked, but she knew it was because Friga must've heard about the kiss she gave Hiccup after the fire,

' _stupid girl_ ' she thought, Friga was showing her even less respect than before and ignored speaking to her or around her for the last two days, which was half a blessing, at least she didn't have to put up with Friga's fawning over her boyfriend,

Astrid paused in her washing and felt a small smile on her lips, she liked the sound of that, but she wasn't sure if he was, with everything going on the chance to talk hadn't appeared and it was driving her a bit mad,

she knew how she felt, she hoped Hiccup felt the same, so it was simple really, talk to each other and if she was lucky, get the chance to throw him into her bed and make that dream a reality

as she finished washing and drying herself, she dressed quickly and walked back onto the balcony where Stormfly was waiting, she looked excited and knelt down to allow Astrid to get onto her back, she looked down to the shoreline and saw the outline of two dragons circling in the sky, ' _they must already be up_ ' she thought, and quickly she told Stormfly to shoot into the sky,

Astrid hoped the feeling of flying would help her get rid of the image of Hiccup, hot and sweaty lifting up beams of wood, his muscles stretched and flexing, but the thought was too strong and before she knew it she was already high above the village entering the clouds, 'Odin please, get him between my legs as soon as possible' she screamed aloud,

After half an hour in the sky, Astrid and Stormfly finally touched down outside the Hall, Astrid saw a few of the usual stares and frightened faces but not many, since the fire, the people were starting to come round and accept the dragons alot more,

Astrid stroked Stormfly's chin and told her to go get some breakfast, the dragon clucked and stubbornly crouched down refusing to leave,

Astrid smiled, one other side effect of the Dragons now being allowed in the town was Stormfly refused to leave at all, she had spent the last two days perched ontop of the hall and anytime Astrid had even appeared outside, she flew right to her side,

'fine, be like that' Astrid said smiling, as she patted Stormfly's nose, she turned and walked into the Hall, she felt a gust of wind behind her and guessed Stormfly had gone to take her usual spot and wait patiently to see her again,

inside the hall, she found Ruff fast asleep at the table, Astrid clenched her fists and walked over to kick the chair Ruff was sat on out from under her legs,

as Ruff fell to the floor with quite a painful sounding bang, she shot up 'wahhh, who,...oh hey Astrid' she said,

'Ruffnut, you're supposed to be with Friga, why aren't you?' Astrid demanded, Ruff shrugged and stood up rubbing her back,

'she was preening again, you know i can't stand the preening, she makes Stormfly look like a pig in the mud' she moaned,

Astrid rubbed her temple, Ruff had a point, but security was important, if they slipped up now they were finally getting places with the Hardheads, they'd never go back,

'ok, fine, go get some sleep, meet up in the afternoon to take over' Astrid said Ruff nodded and Astrid left the hall and entered the corridors to the chambers, she passed guards and maids, only some of them looked happy to see her,

she walked towards Friga's door, which had two guards standing outside, she nodded to them and they stood aside to let her pass, she didn't bother knocking and quietly opened the door and as she did, she heard,

'some guard duty, she's left you alone' said a female voice, one she recognised as Friga's maid,

'it's no bother really, the less i see her the better' Friga's voice said, Astrid poked her head in the room and saw Friga and her maids were sat on the balcony, she snuck inside and closed the door silently, she saw a tray of half eaten food and a pitcher of water and a goblet resting on a table,

Astrid picked up an uneaten apple and poured herself some water, as the girls continued to talk,

'i don't know how you can put up with her, can't you ask your father to get the dragon master to guard you, i don't understand why he hasn't arranged a marriage yet, true he's not the best match, but his looks and his power should make up for that'

Astrid nearly crushed the apple in her hands as she heard the maid say this, ' _where's my axe when i need it_ ' she thought

then Friga laughed softly, 'well, it is customary that a chief's daughter weds the son of a Chief, Odin knows what would happen if a Chief's son wed...a shieldmaiden perhaps'

Astrid nearly crushed the goblet she held ' _oh this girl is pushing it_ ' she thought as the girls laughed,

'but, no father says he stands by what he said earlier, we wont allow a marriage' Friga said and Astrid grinned widely, ' _HA_ ' she thought, even though the worry of a marriage between Friga and Hiccup had long vanished, it felt good to hear it officially,

one of the maids walked off the balcony and into the room saying 'well, i think the dragon master could do better than...Lady Astrid' the girl froze when she set eyes on Astrid,

Friga furiously stepped up behind her 'do not give that barbarian girl the title of lady, she is no lady, she is...'

'standing right here' Astrid said, now Friga froze in her tracks, Friga's three maids all looked ashamed and quickly made excuses to leave the room, Astrid held up a hand,

'calm down, you think i haven't been insulted before' Astrid placed her goblet down on the table, 'of course, when people talk about me i usually...' Astrid drew her knife from her belt and made a point to cut a thin line, very slowly, across the apple and then mimed the knife across her own throat,

the maids looked between themselves, Astrid cut a slice off the apple and placed it in her mouth, chewing loudly, 'so...ladies, whats on the agenda today' she said with her mouth full,

 **Later that day**

Astrid's good mood from catching Friga lasted the whole day, in fact Astrid made sure Friga didn't forget it, during Friga's break from her lessons, she had sat at a table enjoying lunch and Astrid had been sharpening her knife while smiling, it seemed Astrid had finally found way to put up with this guard duty, which was to remind Friga she was armed,

it was now getting dark, the men who had been rebuilding the lower town had come up and were eating food laid out for them, Astrid had handed over guard duty to Ruff and was heading to the hall to get something to eat,

she picked a chicken leg, bread and some cheese and was just sitting down at a table to eat, when four young men walked into the hall, they were filthy and covered in scratches and in some cases bruises,

Snotlout, Hiccup, Ruff and Fishlegs all walked slowly and surely, Astrid felt fury rise in her, she was ready to grab her axe and introduce whoever had hurt them to the sharp end of it

'Hiccup' she ran from her table and up to her friends, she took Hiccup's face in her hands and saw he had a graze below his left eye and a cut lip

'what happened to you?' Astrid asked, she looked at all the boys who were all equally in the same state as Hiccup,

they all shrugged, except for Snotlout, who said 'blame Hiccup, he started it, he insulted my cross stitch' Snotlout said,

'no i didn't, all i said was use the right stitch this time' Hiccup started and was stopped by a slap to the face by Astrid

'you did this to yourselves' she put her hands on her hips and glared at them all,

'sorry Astrid, i tried to stop it' Fishlegs said, 'it was just like that time at my birthday last year, with the fish stew'

her anger disappeared at once, she had to fight a smile on her face 'oh...right, well, i hope it was worth it'

Snotlout rubbed his stomach, 'totally worth it, i'm gonna eat in my room' she saw Snotlout wink at Hiccup, who gave a small thumbs up masking it as scratching his nose,

'yeah, you know what me too' Hiccup said, 'us too' Fishlegs and Tuff echoed as they all pushed past Astrid, who kept the mask of fury on her face,

but she knew what had gone on, Hiccup had found something in the ruins of the lower town and the fight had been a distraction so they could investigate it,

just as Fishlegs had said at his birthday last year, when his mother had brought out a bowl of her fish stew, which was more deadly than Monstrous Nightmare gel,

Snotlout had started a fight with Tuff on purpose so they could knock the table it lay on over and spilt it on the ground, they had been punished, but compared to the fish stew mucking out the dragon stables for two weeks had been a better option,

As she watched Hiccup picked food from the table and headed out of the hall, he turned and nodded his head at her to follow him

'Hiccup, get back here' she growled and followed him out of the hall quickly and towards his room, he had barely closed his bedroom door before she banged it open,

'Hiccup, for Thor's sake you're supposed to be an adult' she yelled and slammed the door behind her 'did you find anything' she whispered,

'Astird, it really wasn't that big of a deal' Hiccup yelled, 'yeah, we did, hence the distraction was needed' he said

'what?' she sat on his bed as he peeled off his leather armour, she was almost desensitized to the sight of him stripping off now, it was still guaranteed to get her hot, but she was more focused on what they had found,

Hiccup sat down on the opposite side of the bed, 'we found a burnt arrow in the remains of the seamstress' shop',

Astrid looked at him, 'a burnt arrow, that's it, why did you bother, a burnt arrow lying around in the lower village, that could mean anything'

Hiccup reached into his pocket and pulled out an arrowhead and threw it at her, she caught it, it was clean, no burning marks, charring or sign that it had even melted slightly,

'Gronckle iron' she said, 'but how, how could a Gronckle iron arrow be in the lower town' she looked at him and he nodded

'my question exactly, even better question, how did one of the arrows Gobber gave me get there' Hiccup said, he stood up and walked to his saddlebags and pulled out his bow and quiver, 'i'm missing one'

'are you sure?' Astrid asked, looking at the arrowhead, she saw no marking or crests on it,

'Astrid, i grew up in his shop, i know Gobber's work better than i know my own' Hiccup put the quiver on his table,

'so that got me curious and we started looking, we found a broken pot, it was one of ours, the ones we use to carry Nightmare gel,

Astrid stood up, 'are we being framed, maybe the stalker, got hold of a pot and took your arrow to lay the blame on us'

Hiccup shrugged, 'possibly, it would get us off the island and apart from you and i, all the riders were in plain sight in the hall'

Astrid felt a warmth in her cheeks, she remembered why they weren't in plain sight, she shook herself, 'so that explains why you needed to look around, but why did you need the distraction'

'Hardkickr, he was in charge of the rebuild, his guards were watching us like hawks, we needed to start something in case they noticed us standing around and we thought it was better if they didn't see what we found'

'so the fire wasn't an accident, what do we do now' Astrid asked,

Hiccup picked up a slice of boar jerky and bit into it, 'i eat and we wait' Astrid was about to argue when Hiccup continued,

'all the others are in their rooms for a reason Astrid, we're gearing up, later tonight Ruff will leave Friga's room to go argue with Tuff about the fight, leaving Friga unguarded, hopefully the Stalker will try something and we'll be ready'

Astrid threw her arms around Hiccup's neck, 'you're a genius' she said smiling,

'uhh really, i was kinda expecting, Hiccup you can't use a girl as bait' he said as he hugged her back,

'if it's Friga you're using, it's the only time i won't say that' she laughed. Hiccup did too and they separated,

'still not her fan then?' he asked, she stood with her arms around his neck staring at him, the silence was comfortable, they seemed to have gone past the point of being awkward about being close, ' _thank Odin_ ' she thought, she looked at his dirty clothes and his face,

'hold on, where are the dragons?' she asked, realising for the first time they hadn't come into the hall with the boys,

'they're hiding in the forest on the borders of the grounds, laying low till we need them and hopefully catching the stalker before he tries anything' Hiccup explained

Astrid felt pride and amazement, Hiccup had covered all angles and thought this plan through to the tiniest detail, she rested her head on his chest and heard his heartbeat,

Astrid wondered how she could not have known or even why she refused to admit her feelings for him and she spoke three words, words that had been a long time coming and would change everything,

Astrid said 'i love you'

Hiccup's heartbeat suddenly began thumping faster and his arms tightened around her, she felt him kiss her hair and rest his chin on her head, time seemed to drag on, it seemed like she had said she loved him an hour ago,

Astrid was getting worried, she held him tighter, if she had got it all wrong and he didn't care for her the same, at least she had this moment and she refused to let it go,

Hiccup broke the silence by saying 'i...i love you'

Astrid smiled and looked up at him, he was smiling too, she leaned up and kissed his lips softly and when she stepped back from the kiss, she saw Hiccup wasn't smiling anymore,

there was something else in his eyes, it was dark and just a little bit intimidating, he stepped closer, grabbed her face in his large hands and pulled her back to him,

Astrid moaned softly as their lips met and she felt herself melt into the kiss, but by no means was she willing to go weak at the knees, Hiccup had placed a challenge and she accepted,

she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him even closer to her, she opened her mouth and their tongues danced furiously as they had the other night, only this time, he hadn't broken away and apologised yet,

the kiss got hungrier and his hands moved from her face and she felt him unbuckling her shoulder pads, ' _oh Thor, is he..., are we about to...YES!'_ she thought,

her lust took her over and she grabbed hold of his dirty shirt and pulled hard, tearing

the shirt wide open and felt his rock hard muscles underneath,

he didn't seem to notice her actions as his own hands were now making short work of her spiked skirt, she rubbed his chest as her skirt joined her shoulderpads on the floor. she felt his strong hands on her hips and it dawned on her finally what was actually about to happen and she broke the kiss, but didn't break out of his embrace,

her eyes opened, she didn't remember shutting them, and she stared at him, they were both breathing heavily, she looked at his chest and licked her lips, they were numb and tingly from the kiss

'what's wrong' Hiccup asked, he started to let go of her body,

'nothing' she said 'just...close your eyes' Hiccup gulped loudly, she nodded her head and he slowly closed his eyes,

Astrid stepped away from him, her nerves felt raw, she knew she wanted this, but how she would go about it still eluded her, she took a steadying breath and slowly lifted her top up over her head,

even though Hiccup's eyes were closed, she felt a little embarrassed, she had her breasts bound of course, but this was more flesh than she had ever shown to anyone in her whole life,

she shivered, a slight fear of what he would think about her body niggled at her, even though he had touched her, they were dressed last time, well she was anyway,

she took one look at his chest showing under his torn shirt and found her courage slightly, she liked what she saw and wanted it,

she turned her back to him and nudged her feet out of her boots, she took a steady breath and unbound her breasts and quickly peeled her leggings off,

Astrid looked at Hiccup and smiled, he had a small smile on his face, she guessed he had heard the movement off her clothes being peeled off,

she approached him slowly and gently grabbed his right hand and kissed the palm, his hand cupped her cheek softly and she guided it down her body and placed it softly over her bare breast, 'wow' he gasped, 'Astrid'

'you like what you feel?' she asked, he nodded and swallowed loudly, she let her right hand go of his and touched his chest softly, 'me too' her hand moved lower and she heard the breath catch in his throat and her hand went lower and lower and she placed it over the rock hard bulge in his pants,

Hiccup breathed quickly and she felt scared suddenly, it had felt big when she was rubbing over it before, but now, ' _that's the son of a Chief_ ' she thought,

finally she felt ready, 'open your eyes' she whispered, slowly Hiccup's eyes opened and his jaw dropped open,

she felt, well she guessed the right word was sexy, Hiccup's eyes moved up and down over her body, she did a slow turn infront of him, she heard him gasp again as she guessed he had caught sight of her bare butt, she walked towards the bed and turned her head smiling and bent over to cral onto the bed, letting Hiccup get a good look at everything and laid down on her elbow,

Hiccup hadn't moved he seemed frozen on the spot, she laughed softly, 'Hiccup, there's a naked women in your bed, i'm no expert but shouldn't you be over here' Hiccup pulled his torn shirt from his body and she licked her lips, her excitement was building she felt wetness seeping between her legs,

Hiccup then started to unbuckle his belt and she now gulped and impatiently waited for what she knew was in his trousers, 'close your eyes' he said teasing her, she shot out her bottom lip and gave him puppy dog eyes, 'you made me wait, this is payback' he said,

she laughed and closed her eyes and felt herself getting wetter, it was more erotic than she thought hearing the rustle of clothes being shed, the jingle of his belt and small clang when it hit the floor, she felt the bed dip on the edge as he sat down, she knew this was because he would have difficulty taking his trousers off because of his prosthetic,

soon the weight lifted from the bed and she heard him say 'ok, open them', she obliged slowly and felt her mouth open as she saw him standing directly infront of the bed, his manhood pointing right at her, she licked her lips and crawled over the short distance to it, she just stayed there admiring it, she had never seen one before, it was hypnotic seeing it for the first time,

her trance was broken when she felt Hiccup's hand rub over her left butt cheek and she answered by grasping his cock in her hand and stroking it with her thumb softly, she felt breathless, it was big it was hard and it was hers for the taking, she absolutely would,

'Hiccup...get in this bed NOW' she ordered and grabbed his hips and pulled him down to her, she fell onto her back and Hiccup landed perfectly between his legs, his hard cock smacked against her bare pussy and she felt a shiver of delight at the contact,

his lips were on hers instantly, his tongue parted her lips and slid into her mouth, she enjoyed every feeling she had at this moment, her body felt on fire as their bare skin met the dampness between her legs aided Hiccup's cock as it rubbed over her centre and she arched her back as her core was rubbed,

next hiccup surpised her once more in her life, one of his hands came between their lower bodies and his fingers rubbed over her core softly ' _how did he know to do that?'_ she thought, but the sensations made her mind go blank as her body responded to Hiccup's touch, she bit her lip to stop herself screaming with pleasure, her breathing came hard and ragged

hours seemed to go by as Hiccup expertly gave her sensation after sensation with hsi fingers but suddenly he stopped, she looked at him almost disappointed that he had stopped, but it had been for good reason, he was positioning himself better between her legs, he was getting ready to take her virginity,

her nerves came back, she was worried about the skills Hiccup showed with pleasing a woman, she wondered if she would be his first as he was hers and if she wasn't would he compare her inexperience with whoever he had learnt his tricks from,

'are you ready?' he asked softly, she lay there looking at him, questions whirred in her mind, but she also saw the nerves in his eyes, he looked so worried, she relaxed, if he had had any other experience with women, he surely wouldn't look a nervous as she felt,

Astrid nodded and wrapped her arms around Hiccup's back, she spread her legs wider, 'please' she said

Hiccup entered her slowly, she dug her nails into his back and now she really had to bite her lip to stop herself from screaming, the pain was bad, so bad she almost pushed Hiccup off her, she felt Hiccup starting to pull out and she wrapped her legs around his waist and pinned him, causing him to thrust into her, which felt a little bit good, 'no' she ordered,

she took a few deep breaths and looked at Hiccup, she nodded, 'go slow' she asked, Hiccup obliged with slow long thrusts which took away the pain slowly and soon she started to feel a little pleasure from it, she had expected as much pleasure as before, but she had heard it got better the more you did it,

Hiccup's thrusts stayed at a slow even pace and her hips started to move in time with his, the pain was almost gone now and she relaxed at the loss of that feeling and began to enjoy the new one that had started, that had actually taken over in fact,

pleasure from between her legs and the feelign of Hiccup's hot lips kissing her neck and nibbling on her skin, she gripped Hiccup's back again as her body was wracked with shivers and the immense excitement building in her stomach, she felt like a fireball was stirring and Hiccup seemed to be having the same feeling, his thrusts got quicker, her pleasure went through the roof as his faster pace made her gasp loudly,

the fireball in her stomach was getting closer to exploding, she felt sweat on Hiccups' back as their activities got harder and even faster and then the fireball exploded she arched her back and moaned breathlessly as warmth spread through every inch of her,

Hiccup continued thrusting for a few minutes more until she felt his body shake and he went still, they lay there gasping for air, when they had caught their breath again, they both laughed,

Hiccup pulled out of her and lay next to her keeping his right arm over her body and rubbing small circles in her arm with his thumb, 'not bad Dragon master' Astrid said as he rolled onto her rightside to look at him,

'not too bad yourself' he laughed,

Astrid felt the concern for his skills rise in her again, it was true Hiccup hadn't been bad, he'd been good, very good actually, 'uhh Hiccup...how did you know how to do...that?' she asked,

Hiccup shrugged, 'you remember last year, when my dad ordered old unused huts to be knocked down or repaired, i was put in charge of clearing Larglug the Lover's hut, the old guy who died when we were five' Astrid nodded, 'when i was clearing it out i found the journal he left behind, by Thor Astrid, he really earned his name'

Astrid laughed, 'i hope he hears that in Valhalla' she said,

Hiccup now looked at her 'and since we're asking questions, i've got one, in his journal he said a woman bleeds after her first time...and you're not' he said,

Astrid shrugged 'oh i lost that years ago' she said, Hiccup looked hurt for a second before Astrid quickly said 'no not my virginity, i broke my hymen by training too hard one day, i came home bleeding and my father nearly killed me, till my mother explained what had happened to me, i don't think my father has ever gotten over the explanation she gave'

they both now laughed and she cuddled up to his chest and heard his thumping heartbeat, after a few minutes silence, Hiccup said, 'we should get dressed, we need to be ready' he got up and sat on the edge of the bed,

but Astrid sat up and wrapped her arms around him from behind, 'oh no Hiccup Haddock, i'm not done with you yet' she whispered in his ear, he laughed as she pulled him backwards and as he lay flat on his beck she was pleased to see he was still excited, 'my turn to be on top' she said as she sat across his lap.

 **Sorry this took so long, not really happy with how this ended, but i got so much left to write and need to get a move on, next chapter will be soon i promise, let me know what you think**


	9. Chapter 9 - The Plot Thickens

**Here we are my lovelies, early update yay, don't know when next Chapter will be up, hopefully soon, if everyone who reads it could also review, lemme know what you like, what you don't, no Hiccstrid in this chapter, sorry, but plenty of...an old friend,**

 **Chapter 9 - The Plot Thickens**

 **At the Fogbank**

Dagur the Deranged's fleet lay at anchor that evening in the Fogbank, the night guards stood on the bow and stern of each ship in the fleet,

under to cover of the thick fog, not a single guard saw her approaching from above, her dragon swooped silently toward the water and dived into it, guards turned and looked at the splash, but gave up quickly guessing it was a shark or something like that

under the sea, Heather held her breath as Windshear, swam heading directly for the flagship,

they reached it quickly, Heather kicked off her saddle and grabbed hold of the bottom of the ship, Windshear treaded water below her as part of the plan, and she started to move across the keel heading towards the stern, her head slowly boke the surface of the water, she couldn't see much, but she knew where the guards were from the torches in the dark, a cough from directly above her gave away the position of one of the guards, she waited for a short while until she heard footsteps heading way from her and she moved fast,

she climbed up the side of the boat and landed softly on the deck hiding behind some boxes, the guards hadn't heard or seen her, ' _perfect_ ' she thought, she waited again, as the guard crossed over infront of the boxes she hid behind and tried to make a break for it heading for the lower deck,

she was instantly met with a problem, she had expected weapons or cages, not twenty men fast asleep covering the deck, she ducked back down behind the boxes and peeked between them, she saw her target, the entrance to the lower deck, but she couldn't see an easy way to it,

as the guard crossed back infront of her, she knew she didn't have a choice, if Dagur was going to pay, she would have to run the risk of getting caught, but she would need time, she opened her satchel and pulled out a small flask of burn oil, she would have to trade for more with Johann, but it was a sacrifice she would have to make,

she threw the bottle as hard as she could and heard a small splash, peeking over the boxes she saw the guard leaning over the side of the ship and she made a break for it, as lightly as she could, she ran to the hatch and crept between the sleeping men and dove into the hatch just as the guard turned away from the distraction,

once inside, she crept down the small ladder and saw a doorway, she looked around for any sign of guards and made her way to the door, she opened it slowly and looked inside, there was a small candle burning on a table and in the meek light, Heather saw her quarry,

Dagur lay fast asleep on a small cot, smiling and mumbling 'die Hiccup' as he slept, she crept inside and closed the door silently, she saw tapestries, three of them hanging from the ceiling, she could make out a Night Fury being beheaded, a village which she recognised as Berk burning and worrying the last tapestry showed a pile of five dead teens, with dagur standing ontop waving the head of a shaggy haired young man in one hand and a prosthetic leg in the other,

Heather drew a knife from her belt, Hiccup would never forgive her for what she was about to do, but she would take that as long as he and all her friends were alive to do it, she crept silently towards the cot and raised the knife,

but then came the pounding of rushing footsteps, it was loud too loud and she didn't have to time to strike, whoever was rushing was already at the ladder, quickly she ducked behind one of the tapestries, there was space for her to hide behind it and she went still

the door banged open 'DAGUR' shouted a voice she recognised as Savage,

'GRRRRR SAVAGE' Dagur yelled as she heard him get up 'how many times, don't disturb me when i'm napping'

'sorry sir, but there's a letter from Hardhead island' Savage said,

' _Hardhead island?, why's Dagur getting letter's from there_ ' Heather asked herself,

'oh alright then, what does it say, tell me' Dagur said sounding excited

' _Dagur, the Riders know the fire was started on purpose, they've set a trap for me tonight, we have to accelerate plans, you need to be here soon, will try and delay Riders investigating further_ ' Savage said

'Grrrrahhhh, damn you Hiccup' Dagur roared and she heard him kick the table

'Savage, send this back right now' Dagur said, 'do what you must, Hiccup cannot learn who you are, will be in sight of Hardhead Island in two days'

Heather felt her stomach drop, the Riders were all in a trap and from what she saw of the number of ships in the fleet, they were in real danger

'break out of the fogbank, head straight to Hardhead Island' Dagur shouted

'but...sir, we could be spotted' Savage argued

'i wouldn't worry about that Savage' she heard Dagur say,

'why not sir, secrecy is essential to the plan' Savage said,

'yes, it is indeed' she heard Dagur say 'but we don't have to worry about being spotted...or even of spies finding us...' she heard the unmistakable sound of a sword being drawn

'why not sir?' Savage asked

she heard Dagur laugh 'because one already has' a sword suddenly stabbed through the tapestry, missing her chest but cutting her left arm, she kicked out blindly and hit someone,

'Guards' Dagur yelled, Heather shot out from behind the tapestry and saw Savage standing with a lite torch,

Heather went into a roll and punched him between the legs, she drew her axe and held it ready for Dagur's attack,

but he didn't attack, he stood smiling 'Sister, it's been so long' he held his arms wide as if expecting a hug,

'not long enough' she threatened, she shot forwards swing the axe, Dagur pulled the sword from the wall and blocked her strike easily

'you know if you're gonna try and hide in someone's room, best not to bathe in lavender oil before you do' Dagur laughed as he smelled the air,

'thanks for the advice' Heather growled, as she swung again, dagur blocked her and grabbed her arm, swinging her around and throwing her against the wall,

Guards piled into the room 'give up my dear sister, no one is here to help you escape this time' Dagur laughed,

so did Heather, she stood up 'you think so?' she said and banged her axe three times on the floor,

Dagur laughed, 'what are you going to do drum your way out of the ship'

Heather braced herself against the wall, 'no, i'm just gonna wait till she builds up enough speed'

Dagur looked around, 'who?' just as the floor below them burst open and water rushed in, 'her' Heather took a deep, dived under the rising water and grabbed the hole she pulled herself out and came face to snout with Windshear, she gave the thumbs up and the Dragon spun over in the water and Heather swam onto her saddle just as the Dragon gave a huge burst of speed and shot out of the water,

she soared higher and higher, arrows and boulders flew around her as she climbed into fogbank, once the arrows stopped Windshear hovered in the sky, Heather took her hood off and tore it to wrap around her bleeding arm,

she wondered what she should do, obviously she had to warn Hiccup, but she had no way to warn him, true on Windshear, she could be on Hardhead Island in less than a day from where she was, but the fleet was too large for anyone even the Riders and the Hardheads combined,

'Windshear, head to Berk' she ordered, the Dragon gave a small nod of her head and shot off into the north, she needed numbers and Berk had them, if they set off soon enough they could arrive before Dagur, who knew she knew he was heading there,

'faster girl' she shouted, whatever way she looked at it, Dagur was holding all the cards, he would make his fleet go faster to get to the Island sooner and when he did get there he would be expecting her to attack and bring reinforcements, speed was her only advantage, she had to get help fast and right now Windshear was giving her exactly what she needed

 **Evening at Berk**

it was nearly midnight by the time Stoick The Vast walked out of the Great Hall, a Scroll detailing tomorrow's tasks rested under his arm and his hand rested on his forehead, he was going to need a larger block of ice than usual,

the whole day had been a nightmare from start to finish,first thing he had had to deal with Flungback the Thrower, who's Monstrous Nightmare had been getting amorous with the mate of a Berk Guard's Nightmare,

then naming a newborn, sorting out the finalists for this weekend's race, dealing with a Gronckle who was allergic to straw and for the last four hours dealing with the Council, who were still arguing that he should enter Hiccup into a marriage contract

Stoick was ready for a tankard of mead and that block of ice for sure, he walked down the stone steps where Skullcrusher was waiting for him, he patted the dragon and climbed on his back 'Home Skullcrusher...please' he said,

as the mighty Dragon kicked off the ground, Stoick sat nearly falling asleep in the saddle, he wondered how much longer could he go on being Chief or if he even wanted to carry on for much longer

even he, Stoick the Vast, had to admit, he may be a giant of a man, but he was still a man and men aged, he had noticed in the last couple of months, even when he wasn't wearing armour, he made noises sitting up and down, old injury's hurt that little bit more and he couldn't hide the grey that was spreading into his beard,

he stared over his village as Skullcrusher did his lap of the village before heading home,

it had changed over the years, since Hiccup had opened their eyes, he hardly recognised it from the village he had been made Chief of so many years ago,

maybe it was time, to sit in a chair and watch the world pass by, perhaps with a couple of grandchildren on his lap telling stories to them as his father's father had done with him,

or maybe it was time for mead and rest, either plan appealed to him if he was honest, the grandkids more than the mead though,

Skullcrusher landed outside his house and Stoick climbed off, he patted the dragon, who stomped off to his feeding station, Stoick entered his empty house and collapsed into his chair,

he dipped his hand into a bucket that rested beside his chair and grabbed the large block of ice within and started to raised it to hie forehead,

the ice barely touched his forehead when he door banged open, Stoick dropped the ice and grabbed a mace, he raised it roaring loudly, ready to bring it down on the skull of the person who dared to barge into his house uninvited,

'whoa, Chief, i'm sorry but this is important' Gustav said raising his hands in surrender,

'Gustav, thor dammit, i could have killed you' Stoick roared and put the mace down, 'sorry lad, but i've had my fill of problems today' Stoick said as he headed back to his chair,

'Hiccup's in danger Chief' Gustav said quickly,

Exhaustion and even his headache lifted from Stoick, he turned 'WHAT!' he approached the boy 'what danger, speak up lad'

Gustav pointed to the dor with his thumb, 'she can explain better than me' he said and rushed out

Stoick followed Gustav out of his house and saw quite a sight, a dragon with shining metallic skin, sharp barbs on its tail a long slender neck and head and a large curved horn on the nose, he recognised it, from the description Hiccup had given him,

next to the dragon a young woman stood, her hood was down showing her charcoal hair and fair skin also showing several cuts on her face and a bandaged arm

'Heather' Stoick said concerned for the girl, Heather turned to look at him and bowed her head, 'Chief Stoick' she said

'i saw her heading this way and she said she needed to speak to you about Hiccup' Gustav explained

'what happened to you girl, Gustav go get Gothi' he ordered, Gustav nodded and jumped onto Fanghook's back,

Heather held up a hand to stop him, 'we don't have time Chief, it's Dagur, he's going for Hiccup'

fear crept up Stoick's spine 'Dagur, but how?' he asked

'Dagur has a fleet of ships, i didn't get an exact count, but there was alot and he's heading to Hardhead Island' Heather warned

'Hardhead Island...how would he know to go there?'

'Dagur has a spy on the island, i heard a letter read out by his henchman savage' Heather said,

Stoick yelled, 'Skullcrusher, warning torch NOW' Skulcrusher and Fanghook both reared back and shot a single blast of fire up to the great hall, which hit right about the doorway, and the fire spread, shaping itself into the shape of a dragon,

the warning bell rung out suddenly, Stoick now regretted laughing at the idea of smearing Monstrous nightmare gel on the rock about the hall, Hiccup really did have the best ideas,

the council all filed out of the great hall and their dragons were waiting for them, soon enough Spitelout, Sven, Bucket, Mulch and Gothi all landed around them

'Stoick, what's wrong?' Spitelout asked as he jumped off his Nadder,

Gobber came limping up the path to his house quickly, 'phew sorry i took so long' he said gasping for air

'Gobber, you really should get yerself a dragon' Mulch said

'not now Mulch' Stoick said, 'we've got a bigger problem, Dagur' he growled

'what about him, he's been silent for months, not a sign or sight of him' Spitelout said

'because he's been gathering an army' Heather said, all the council looked at the girl

Stoick cleared his throat 'he's got an army and he going after my son', he clenched his fists and shouted 'muster the Berk guard' he pushed past Heather and grabbed Spitelout by the shoulder, 'i want every Rider saddled and ready by sundown'

Stoick walked to Skullcrusher and got onto his back,

'Stoick, wait, calm down' Gobber said

'Gobber, we can't afford to wait' Stoick yelled, 'my son is out there'

'Stoick, my son is out there too' Spitelout reminded him, 'but before you go shooting off, we have to consider Berk first, we need to prepare'

'he's right Stoick' Mulch said 'whatever that deranged lad has planned, it will also involve us, as important as Hiccup is, the village must come first'

Stoick sat staring at the council, all of them even Gobber nodded in agreement, Stoick was torn, he stared around at the crowd that stood staring at him, he too agreed, even for the sake of his son, his people needed him first,

slowly he got off Skullcrusher's back, 'fine' Skullcrusher nudged his side hard and Stoick didn't fight it, 'we'll be underway soon old friend' he said,

Stoick straightened up and yelled 'i want all the supplies we have taken to the hall, i want defenses set up inside, Spitelout double the flight watches, call our scouts back we're gonna need all the Riders we have, you are charged with the defense of the town'

Spitelout nodded and rushed off shouting orders, Stoick turned to Heather 'Can you ride?' he asked,Heather nodded,

'good, Gustav' the teenager stood straighter, 'you will be joining us, we'll need you' Gustav puffed out his chest proudly, 'happy to serve Chief'

finally Stoick turned to Gobber 'Gobber, however far you are with the saddles, you'll have to leave em, i want our catapults checked and rechecked and plenty of arrows and boulders ready and waiting'

'aye aye Chief, Gustav you and Heather can help me till you leave' Gobber said and the three set off towards his shop, Stoick stood feeling helpless, it was a feeling that wasn't new to him,

the first time he'd felt it was when he saw Valka being carried away into the night,

the second was when he saw the Red Death crash into the earth and explode and the last few times, well they were all to frequent to count,

each and everyone was always because Hiccup had placed himself in danger and now Hiccup was in danger, because Stoick had placed him there, he clenched his fists imagining them to be wrapped around Dagur's throat if any harm came to his boy

Stoick looked up to the sky and spoke a name he had said aloud very few times in the last eighteen years, 'Val..., watch over him please, i promise i'll get to him as soon as i can'

 **there we go my eager beavers, working on next chapter be done ASAP, please review, they make me write faster**


	10. Chapter 10 - Stabs in the Dark

**hello my lovelies, here we are at the turn of the tide, been waiting to write these upcoming chapters, hope you enjoy and to my reviewer Porcupain, thank you for loving this story, side note this was originally two chapters and didn't like how i ended it, so cut alot out, nothing good, to make one long chapter, might skip alot, but the point of the chapter remains**

 **Chapter 10 - Stabs in the Dark**

 **Hardhead Island**

Hiccup leaned over the side of his bed attaching his false leg, a smile plastered all over his face, he looked over his shoulder and saw Astrid, who was unfortunately dressed, re-tying her braid, he stood up and walked to his saddlebags and pulled out a green shirt, as he finished putting it on he saw Astrid admiring him, with an even wider grin on her face,

'well' he said

Astrid walked up to him 'well' she responded, Hiccup grabbed her waist and pulled her in for a kiss a soft moan escaped her lips as they met and soon she was responding to the kiss, he broke away before it got too hot, the last time they were nearly dressed and started kissing, it had lead to round four,

Astrid stroked his face softly, 'are you ready?' she asked, Hiccup nodded, 'okay, i'll go get my axe' Astrid said, she kissed his lips quickly and walked towards his door,

Hiccup tried, and failed, not to look at her butt as she walked away, Astrid opened his door and turned to look at him, he saw her face flush red,

'don't look at me like that...i don't want to leave' Astrid said shyly, Hiccup laughed, 'i can't look at you any other way, ever again' he answered,

'behave yourself Dragon Master' Astrid said lightly, 'let's catch this stalker and you can do more than look at me, but now game face'

Hiccup nodded, she was right, now was the time to get serious, 'ok, get your weapons, we're stopping this tonight' he said Astrid nodded and left

Hiccup walked to his table and grabbed his sword and hung it from his belt, he left his leather armour off and put on his vambraces and hung his quiver over his shoulders, he picked up his bow and tested the string, ' _ok_ ' he thought, as he walked onto his balcony and took his position, he pulled an arrow from the quiver and knocked it onto the bow and sat waiting in the shadows.

 **ASTRID POV (two hours later)**

so far the plan was going as it should, she was hidden in the training area below Friga's balcony, she held her axe anxiously awaiting any sign of the stalker and it had been over two hours now since she left Hiccup's room and nothing had happened so far, she was beginning to give up on the plan, she was tired as it is and it didn't help that she kept asking herself, if she weren't here hiding for the stalker, she would be in bed right now...or better still be in Hiccup's,

she heard something, a loud snapping, she looked to the forest, that was the signal, the Dragons had spotted something,

and then so did she, coming out of the side door to the hall, the person wore a hooded cloak and was carrying something wrapped in a thick sheet, they made their way carefully and cautiously across the training field, until they stopped and froze, as an arrow hit the ground right infront of them 'don't move' Hiccup's voice shouted, Astrid leapt from the bush she was hiding in and crossed the training field quickly,

but as soon as she was only a few steps from the stalker they threw something on the ground, smoke exploded around Astrid, she heard Hiccup shouting her name and felt a fist smash into her jaw, she spun and went down, spitting out blood she quickly got back to her feet,

'what's going on here?' she looked up the steps and saw Hardhitr racing down the steps in his nightrobe and a cloak,

followed by the twins and Snotlout, 'these...young people woke me up arguing, what's going on' Hardhitr said,

'no time to explain we need to...' Astrid turned but the stalker was gone 'damn' she heard a dagon roar and there was an explosion of fire,

'he's in the woods, let's go' Astrid shouted,

'wait who's in the woods?' Hardhitr asked,

'the stalker, he ran off, i think he's got Friga' Astrid explained

'Friga?' Hardhitr tore off towards the woods, followed closely by Astrid, as they ran Hardhitr shouted 'where's Hardkickr?, he should still be on duty'

Astrid ignored the calls of her name, which she guessed was Hiccup, and ran into the woods right behind Hardhitr

the forest was a whirlwind of dragon fire and screams, Friga's for help, Hardhitr's for Friga and Hiccup's yells for her, the roaring of the dragons joined it and Astrid was unable to focus,

Hardhitr stood beside her calling for Friga and her screams ran out over the roar of the flames and of the Dragons, Hardhitr abandoned her side and ran towards the sound of the voice

Astrid tried to think of a reason to follow him, she didn't care about friga at all, but if this was they way they were going to get off this damn island than so be it,

Astrid chopped her way through the trees and bushes and as she came out a clearing, in the firelight, she saw a shape lying on the ground, a large one, too big to be Friga

Astrid edged her way forwards carefully, she was wary of a trap, but she reached the shape without incident, she rolled it over with great difficulty and felt her stomach drop when she saw who it was

Hardhitr lay staring into the sky blankly, his skin was cold and pale, blood stained his massive beard, she fell to her knees and placed her head on his chest, there was no heartbeat, she stood slowly

Astrid was shocked and horrifed, she had seen the stalker he was half Hardhitr's size, how could he possibly have been taken down, she was even more horrified when she felt something in her back, something hard and cold, she felt her knees give out under her and she fell down,

someone kicked her hard from behind and she hit the ground face first, fear gripped her and she felt something warm and wet running down her left side, she tried to lift her head but could only roll it slightly, she saw the shape of someone standing over her,

she couldn't see their face or make out their body shape, all she could see was the one thing she was focusing on, in this person's right hand was a dagger, a short wide bladed dagger, with blood on it, her blood,

Astrid felt warm tears on her face, she wouldn't beg for mercy from this person, she didn't think she could, the world was going dark and her muscles felt limp and useless, as her focus slipped from the bloody dagger, she could only think of her life, how short it had been and of Hiccup, her brave idiotic stubborn Hiccup, she felt remorse, to have had so much time with him and so little time being with him, he was her last thought, before the darkness took her

 **Hiccup POV**

Hiccup ran into the forest, the riders running along behind him, Toothless and the dragons appeared infront of them,

'bud, where's Astrid?' Hiccup asked his friend, Toothless shrugged, 'DAMN' Hiccup yelled,

'We'll find them' Fishlegs said, then Stormfly roared suddenly, she was angry and stared growling off to the right of Hiccup,

'Stormfly' Hiccup held his hands up to calm the dragon down, 'hey, what is it girl?' he asked, Stormfly ignored him and pushed him down as she ran over him to get past, barely missing trampling Hiccup as she went,

Hiccup stood 'follow her' he shouted, and they took off following the trail she left in her wake, after a short while they came onto a clearing, they saw a large lump on the ground and Stormfly was nudging another smaller one next to it,

Hiccup slowly walked towards Stormfly, he noticed the large lump was Hardhitr, but it was the smaller one that made him fall to his knees,

he crawled the short distance, Stormfly seemed wary and stepped over Astrid's still form, as if guarding her, Hiccup held up his hand again 'please' he begged, Stormfly stepped down and backed away, so Hiccup could reach her,

Astrid was cold, he picked her up and cradled her to himself, he wanted to scream, he wanted to find the stalker and give Toothless a human supper, but all he could do was rock back and forth cradling her, he let her go and rested her head on his lap,

' _this isn't right_ ' he thought, he looked down as her beautiful face, admiring her, she was stronger than this, she shouldn't be dead, Astrid's soul should be crawling it's way back from Valhalla, all he had to do was wait,

he looked away from her and up to the Riders and the dragons, all of them had the same grieving look on their faces, apart from Fishlegs, he had a different look, it wasn't grief it was fear, 'what is it' he asked Fishlegs

'Hiccup' Fishlegs held up a bloody dagger, now Hiccup felt his anger rise up, a dagger, a small dagger, this was proof for him, Astrid wouldn't die from a dagger, as Fishlegs held up the offensive object, Hiccup noticed the dragons back away from it, as if afraid, Fishlegs noticed it to and sniffed the blade, 'Hiccup, it's poisoned, the blade is coated in...' Fishlegs sniffed again, 'it's Poisonous Eel'

'Poisonous Eel' Hiccup repeated, he wondered why use Poisonous Eel, it wasn't even a deadly poison all it did was... 'cause temporary paralysis' he said, letting go of Astrid, he laid her down and checked her for a wound, he found it in her left side, not the most lethal of places, in fact the bleeding had already stopped, ' **she's alive** ' he yelled

after a suddenly outlet of breaths and 'thank Odin's' Tuffnut piped up, 'yeah, but he's not',

'take her' Hiccup ordered Fishlegs, who cradled Astrid in his place, Hiccup kissed her forehead before walking to Hardhitr's body,

his throat was slit and blood coated his neck and beard, Hiccup knelt and felt his skin, he was stone cold 'Ruff, Tuff, Snotlout, take your dragons search the area and find this bastard' Hiccup ordered, he heard them all agree and felt several gusts of wind, which he guessed meant the dragons had taken off

'FATHER' Hiccup looked away from the body and saw Hardkickr walking through the bush with several guards behind him, the young Chief ran across the clearing to his father's body,

'what happened Rider' Hardkickr asked furiously, 'who did this to my father?' hardkickr kneeled beside his father,

Hiccup fought for his voice, but he couldn't speak, luckily Fishlegs was there to speak for him, 'we are looking for them now, they have Friga still, we will catch them Hardkickr'

Hiccup stared at Hardkickr, ready for whatever insult he was ready to throw at them, for allowing his father's death and not being able to stop Friga's kidnapping,

Hiccup was more than ready, in fact he was waiting for it, as soon as hardkickr said those words it meant Hiccup could punch his lights out, his anger over Astrid being hurt was blinding him and he wanted to hit something,

Toothless nudged his side, the look in the Dragons eyes said everything, it was a clear 'don't do anything stupid' Hiccup patted the dragon's nose and was surprised when Hardkickr finally spoke

'my men will help search for the assassin' Hardkickr said sounding hoarse and tired, then suddenly someone roared 'DRAGONS' Hiccup looked up and Hookfang was hovering over them coming in for a landing, Barf and Belch right behind him, Hiccup noticed Friga was sat behind Snotlout,

'sister' Hardkickr said, he walked up to Hookfang as he landed and helped Friga off the Dragon's neck 'Brother' Friga sobbed, 'father, he killed father'

Hardkickr hugged his sister, 'i know and he will pay'

'who?' Hiccup asked, 'you know who killed your father', he wanted to know more than ever who he was hunting,

'i didn't see his face, i woke up in my room, someone was holding a cloth over my face and the next thing i knew Snotlout was shaking me awake' Friga said

Hiccup nodded slowly and looked to Snotlout, 'where did you find her?'

'less than a quarter of a mile to the south, no sign of the Stalker, i guessed he dropped her so he cold run faster' Snotlout said,

Hiccup agreed, now he had caught sight of this stalker, he could see they weren't very large, Friga would have been deadweight in his escape,

'everyone back to the hall' Hardkickr shouted, he turned to his guards 'carry my father', the guards nodded, Hardkickr blocked Friga's view of their father's body and looked to the limp Astrid in Fishlegs arms, 'i will send our healer to help her' he said and walked off,

Hiccup guessed that was as close to civil as Hardkickr got, so he didn't bother with arguing, he looked at Astrid and took her from Fishlegs, 'let's get you back inside' he said to her

 **The next Morning**

Hiccup sat in a chair beside his bed, Astrid lay asleep on it, Hiccup felt tired and stretched his aching muscles, he had insisted when they had returned to the Hall, that Astrid would rest in his bed, Snotlout had argued that she should rest in his, but one look from all the other Riders had silenced him quickly,

Hiccup got up from his chair and walked around the room for a bit to get some feeling back into his numb limbs, he had not left his chair the rest of the night, Astrid had not yet woken and he wondered if Fishlegs had been wrong,

what if it wasn't poisonous Eel on the blade, that thought had occured to him many times over the last few hours, why use a non deadly poison, why stab Astrid where she wouldn't be badly injured, none of it made sense, they were clearly okay with killing if they had set the fire in the lower town and killed Hardhitr,

also they must have training of some kind, to sneak up on Astrid was impossible and Archery was a skill that required practice and control to hit the jar of gel which started the fire

Hiccup was disturbed from his thoughts by a knock on the door, he grabbed his sword from the table quickly and stood infront of the bed, guarding Astrid, the other thought that had plaqued his mind was maybe Astrid had seen the stalker and he maybe just missed her vital organs, so Hiccup wasn't taking chances of people getting close enough to Astrid to try and finish her off,

the door opened slowly, 'Master Hiccup' Friga's voice called out, Friga popped her head round the door, 'sorry if i'm disturbing you' she held up a plate of food and a large tankard, 'i thought you should eat'

Hiccup lowered his sword, 'yes, thank you, just put it on the table' he said as he turned around the look at Astrid,

'will she be alright?' Friga asked behind him,

'i don't know, the poison is long lasting but she's breathing fine, i just need to wait until she wakes up' Hiccup said as he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders,

'perhaps i could keep you company' Friga said as she rested her head on his shoulder

Hiccup shrugged her off 'Friga, please go, you should not be here alone with me'

Friga huffed but didn't seem to wanna give up that easily, 'Hiccup' she reached up and stroked his face, 'you are an extraordinary man and she...' Friga nudged her head towards Astrid 'isn't worthy of you'

Hiccup wondered if Friga had forgotten he had a sharp sword in his hand, 'get out now Friga' he said slowly,

now Friga looked insulted, Hiccup walked round the bed leaving her standing open mouthed where she was and sat beside Astrid,

he heard Friga leave his bedroom quickly, Hiccup stared at Astrid's face, he swore he could see a small smile on her lips, he smiled and stroked her face, 'please wake up soon, she'll be back i have no doubt of it'

it was less than half an hour later as Hiccup sat staring at the bed, that the door was thrown open, he stood up sword drawn as three guards rushed into the room with Hardkickr behind them, Hiccup barely had time to ask what was going on before Hardkickr shouted, 'seize him'

Hiccup was grabbed by the three guards and his sword was wrestled from his grip 'what...what's going on?' he asked, Hardkickr walked into the room with Friga behind him, tears were in her eyes,

'murderer' Hardkickr growled, Hiccup looked around at the guards, Friga and Hardkickr

'Hiccup?' he looked over Hardkickr's shoulder and saw Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins all being dragged into the room their hands were bound behind their backs,

'what's going on, why have you done this' Hiccup asked, as the guards tied his hands behind him

'because i realised the truth, you killed my father, smart i must admit it, you nearly had me fooled' Hardkickr growled

'what?' Hiccup yelled, 'how did you come to that, Astrid was hurt as well you moron'

'yes, not fatally stabbed and with a poison that doesn't kill, you're one mistake boy' Hardkickr said, 'i am not a fool, i see the facts, you want my sister and my father wasn't going to let you have her, so he had to go'

'no, you're just taking what you think and not seeing the truth' Hiccup argued,

'he would never allow you to marry my sister, that is why you killed him, did you hope i would look for allies, a young Chief needs to have allies to stabilize his position after all and i bet you were hoping this was how you would steal my sister' Hardkickr said

Hiccup rolled his eyes'for Thor's sake, Hardkickr, i am not interested in your sister, you're being played, someone is manipulating all of this'

Friga broke the moment by walking up to him, 'why would you do this, did you desire me so much that my father had to pay the price of your lust'

Hiccup's jaw hit the floor, whatever this girl was drinking, she needed to stop, 'desire you, i can barely stand you' he argued

at that moment a guard came rushing into the room, 'Chief, ships approaching from the east, a large number' the guard gasped,

Hardkickr looked at him, 'so this was your plan, i knew it, it knew it from the moment Johann recommended you, you planned to invade us' Hardkickr turned round 'muster the guard, if Berk is attacking, they'll get a fight before they get our home'

'sir, it's not Berk, they sail under the Berserker Crest' the guard said,

'the Berserkers...?' Hardkickr asked

'Dagur!' Hiccup rolled his eyes, ' _STUPID, of course_ ' he thought, 'Hardkickr, it's him, he is behind all of this, he killed your father'

'silence, Dagur kill my father, he's a madman, not an imbecile, i see it as he must've found out you were here and has come for his revenge...oh yes i have heard stories about you and him' Hardkickr turned back to his guards

'Hurry to the shore, signal Dagur he can come ashore, if he wants this traitor, he can have him' he ordered, the guard bowed and left the room quickly, Hardkickr walked to the door, Hiccup was pushed after him, 'don't forget his whore' Hardkickr said

'don't touch her' Hiccup roared as he wrestled to get out of the guards grip as the other guard went to pick Astrid up,

Hardkickr punched him hard in the stomach, 'do you really care for that one, well maybe i won't hand her over to Dagur, maybe i'll keep her here' Hiccup's hair was pulled hard and his head tilted back so he was nose to nose with Hardkickr,

'then you can die an even worse death not knowing what happened to her, bring the girl, let him see her stranded here as he leaves' Hardkickr released Hiccup's head and he was pulled to his feet, Astrid was hauled up and carried by the guard,

The Riders were all pushed and shoved out of the room and marched throught the hall where it seemed the whole village had gathered, roars of TRAITORS, MURDERERS and DEMONS rang out as they were lead through the parting crowds,

'Friga' Hardkickr called, Hiccup looked around and saw Friga trailing behind them with her handmaidens either side of her 'you stay here' Hardkickr ordered,

Friga nodded her head and wiped her eyes 'yes brother, but please make sure he pays for killing father'

'you know our Dragons will be on you the second we step outside right' Tuff laughed,

'yeah, might as well call it a bad day and let us get on our dragons and fly away, save you some embarrassment' Ruff agreed,

now Hardkickr laughed, 'do you think so' as they were lead outside, Hiccup was horrified by what he saw, the Dragons were all chained and their jaws bound with heavy ropes and chains,

Hookfang, Barf/Belch, Stormfly and Toothless and growled harshly as they set eyes on their Riders, Meatlug on the other hand whimpered sadly at seeing Fishlegs with the axe to his throat, 'its okay girl' Fishlegs said

'calm yourselves beasts' Hardkickr roared, 'you won't miss them for very long'

Hiccup didn't like to guess what that meant and neither did he have the time to think about it either, as they were all pushed through the village, Hiccup caught sight of the fleet, he felt despair hit him hard, even with their dragons, there were too many ships and they didn't have the element of surprise, Hiccup looked behind him and saw the same look on all the Rider's faces, they looked like they wanted a plan from him and he was shamed to admit, he couldn't think of one,

A short time later, they reached the shore, the guard from Earlier was waving a white flag, Hiccup saw a small boat approaching the shore, he could make out dagur grnning madly on its bow, the guard carrying Astrid, dropped her hard in the sand hard at Hardkickr's feet, Hiccup felt his fury burn hotter, it was like no anger he had ever felt before, the boat neared the shore and Hiccup stared into Dagur's eyes,

'HICCUP!' Dagur laughed and jumped off the boat, 'how sweet you came to greet me'

Hiccup clenched his fists, he knew Dagur had something to do with this, but he had no time to prove it, only his word, which held next to no weight as far as Hardkickr would be concerned

'Dagur' Hardkickr said, 'if you've come for this traitor, take him and leave my island'

Dagur looked around, 'your island, where's Hardhitr?' Hiccup knew Dagur too well to see that he was not surprised by this news, he was involved, now Hiccup knew it for sure,

'my father is dead, this one murdered him' Hardkickr growled and punched Hiccup in the gut, he doubled over coughing as the Riders called his name

'oh did he, well Hiccup, naughty naughty' Dagur said as he knelt infront of him, 'so you're just giving him to me, so i can deal with Berk's revenge'

'what revenge, i can't see Stoick the Vast throwing away peace for the sake of his murderous son' Hardkickr argued,

a small part of Hiccup had to admit, Hardkickr was right, Stoick would want revenge, even if Hiccup was executed for murder, but war on the Hardheads meant war against all the other tribes who disagreed with the Berk way of life,

Hiccup admitted it, this time, they were doomed, they had no dragons, no weapons, no backup and their best fighter was paralysed,

Hiccup stared at Astrid's limp body in the sand, when she woke up, she would hear how he had failed them all and her, that thought robbed Hiccup of the very last bit of fight he had in him, until a distant explosion and roar sounded out, Hiccup lifted his head, smoke began to billow from up on the hill,

'is that, the Dragons?' Dagur asked, Hardkickr nodded and said 'they'll be dealt with as soon as you get this scum off my island'

Dagur laughed and cheered like a child, 'oh goody, make it slow, please especially that Night Fury'

then another explosion blasted out up the hill...and another and then yelling and then another roar, Hiccup smiled wide, he recognised that last roar and he felt hope hit him like a bucket of warm water

'don't smile yet boy' Hardkickr said, 'your dragons may be fighting back, but they're still gonna die'

Hiccup looked at Dagur and Hardkickr, still smiling, 'you're wrong...about a lot of things, but right now you're wrong because...' a loud roar blasted out and got louder, 'those aren't our Dragons'

the roar was joined by a deep rumbling war cry and a huge shadow crossed over them and began blasting the ships infront of the fleet,

Skullcrusher soared over them with Fanghook and Windshear on his flanks, all the other dragons followed behind and began assaulting the boats, except for Stormfly who landed in the middle of the group of Riders, she flicked her tail and whipped three guards down hard,

'kill that beast' Hardkickr roared, as he drew his axe, Stormfly flicked her tail and spines shot at Dagur and Hardkickr's weapons knocking them out of their hands, before they could recover from that Stormfly was already charging at them shooting her flames at them,

seeing his chance, Hiccup elbowed the guard on his rightside in the face, and he brought his knee up hard between the left guard's legs, who's hands left the sword and went right to his crotch moaning loudly.

Hiccup grabbed the sword and stabbed it into the ground, so he could cut his ropes on and once he was free, he pulled it from the sand got to his feet and bent over to grab Astrid, a loud shout made Hiccup freeze halfway, he looked up as a guard slammed into him and they both went down, Hiccup wrestled with the guard until he managed to get a grip around Hiccup's throat,

but Snotlout's foot swung into view and hit the guard right in the face 'Snotlout oi oi oi' he yelled, he wrapped his bound hands around another guards neck and headbutted him in the face

Hiccup sat up and saw all the riders were each fighting a guard, with their hands bound, he grabbed his sword and stood up as Hardkickr and Dagur both bore down on him with axes,

suddenly Toothless leapt over a rock and smashed into the two attackers, he hit Dagur and Hardkickr which such force Dagur was flung into the water and hardkickr was knocked down at Hiccup's feet, 'thanks bud' Hiccup said as he held the sword to the back of Hardkickr's neck, 'stay down' Hiccup threatened

Meatlug landed behind Hiccup and galloped to Fishlegs, but whimpered just before reaching him, one guard had managed to nock an arrow and had shot her in her back leg,

Fishlegs roared and ran at the Archer tearing his ropes open as he went, he grabbed the archer and headbutted him hard, 'not my Meatlug' he roared and his picked the guard right off the ground and threw him clear across the beach and into the water

Hiccup dared a look around and saw to his relief all the guards on the beach were knocked out or hurt badly, 'Fishlegs, your hands are free cut the other's ropes' Fishlegs nodded and picked up a dagger from a knocked out guards belt

'you're not going to escape' Friga said, Hiccup looked at her, he had almost forgotten she was there, she crouched down holding her hands out infront of her in surrender

'oh yeah, try us' Hiccup said keeping the point of his sword to the back of Hardkickr's neck, who was keeping very still

'guys' Fishlegs said sounding scared, Hiccup looked at him and saw he was looking up the hill. hiccup followed the eyeline and saw half of the island's gards and vilagers heading towards them,

'oh we got this Hiccup' Tuff said as he and Ruff both bellowed out their Dragon calls,

Barf/Belch broke formation away from the dragons attacking the boats and begun to fly directly towards them,

'Wheel of Fire' Ruff and Tuff yelled, the Zippleback flew over them and headed for the approaching guards and villagers and Hiccup felt his jaw drop open as the Dragon curled itself into a wheel like shape and lit itself on fire, the wheel of fire rolled into the guards knocking some down and sending others running away,

'Bud, keep Hardkickr down' Hiccup ordered Toothless, an stepped aside so his Dragon could place his paw on Hardkickr's back and growl menacingly, Hiccup saw Archer's aiming at them up on the hill, but they werent firing, he guessed having their Chief captured was granting them a bit of security,

Barf/Belch landed on the beach and nudged their Riders softly, Hiccup crouched down and picked up Astrid, thankfully she was safe 'Snotlout' Hiccup called as Stormfly crouched down and he placed Astrid in the saddle, 'you're flying Stormfly, get Astrid out of here'

Stormfly shook her head, 'girl we don't have time, Astrid can't fight like this, take her and get back to Berk' Stormfly slowly nodded and Snotlout climbed behind Astrid, as Stormfly rose up a bola flew over her head barely missing her,

'Toothless, Plasma Blast' Hiccup yelled, Toothless fired off a shot and hit one of the boats that had fired at the beach, 'Hiccup' he heard his father shout, 'get out of there yer a sitting duck'

Hiccup climbed onto Toothless, he saw the other Rider's were following his lead, he heard coughing and gasping and looked at the water, Dagur was crawling his way out of the waves,

'everyone, cover Stormfly, when she is clear, we make a run for it' he ordered, Hiccup looked at Dagur 'sorry Dagur, no luck again' he said and together all the Dragons kicked off, but as Toothless took off Hiccup felt a hand grab his prosthetic,

'Murderer, you're not going anywhere' Hardkickr shouted, then he screamed, Toothless had bitten into his side and Hardkickr released his grip and Toothless threw him directly at Dagur who had made a mad dash to grab Toothless,

Hiccup smiled as their heads collided hard with one anothers and both fell to the ground hard, but his smile didn't last long as he felt a swish of wind and saw an Arrow fly right over his nose,

he pulled Toothless back and looked to his left from where the arrow had been shot and felt his jaw drop open 'what?'

the archer lowered the bow and held her hands up in a mock surrender, she sneered at him, 'sorry, i'm usually a much better shot' Friga said laughing,

'what, but you?' Hiccup said,

Friga smiled and got down on her knees, as if begging for mercy 'that's just what my father said...before i slit his throat'

Hiccup knew he didn't have time to ask what he wanted to, so he could only say one thing 'you killed your father?'

'Dagur told me you were smart Hiccup, its why i enjoyed fooling you so much, you saw what my father saw and didn't look further' Friga kept her head bowed

Hiccup heard crashing and looked ahead to see the dragons smashing into boats and setting others on fire, he looked back at Friga, half of him wanted to flee, the other half was determined to take her down, but now the archers up on the hill were starting to fire, which explained why Friga was acting scared, it was a performance for the archers,

Hiccup gripped the saddle hard and gave the order for Toothless to take off, 'this isn't over' he said and toothless shot off across the water barely missing the volley of arrows that landed where they had been seconds before

as Toothless flew away, Friga looked up 'see you soon Hiccup' she smiled and looked to dagur who lifted his head off the sand and smiled at her, 'good job' he gave her a thumbs up,

'Lady Friga' someone shouted, she looked up as guards and archers ran onto the beach dagur threw his head back onto the sand as Friga began sobbing and was taken into the arms of one of her handmaidens,

'my brother please, help him' she sobbed hard, a guard walked over to the unconscious Hardkickr, Friga was pulled to her feet,

she looked out at the fleet and saw many ships on fire and the Dragons hovering over them 'my lady we must go, this is no place' her handmaiden said trying to puller her off the beach,

'no my brother, does he live?' she asked the guard who was tending to her brother, the guard nodded, 'yes, he lives, the bite does not appear too bad, that coward will pay for this' the guard growled,

Friga nodded, being sure to keep her relieved face on, but inside she was truly relieved, while her father had outlived his usefulness, her brother still had a place in her plan.

 **hey sorry this took so long, caught a real bugger of a flu, but here we are, hope you enjoyed it and i bet you didn't see THAT coming, please review lemme know what you thought**


	11. Chapter 11 - Plans

**Here we are my lovelies, soo sorry this took so long, personal issues, hope you can forgive me, not my best chapter, but needed to get it out of the way,**

 **Chapter 11 - Plans**

It could be said Stoick the Vast was not having a good day, first he had learnt his son was a sitting duck with a fleet of ships creeping up behind him and second, he was now smack in the middle of said fleet dodging bola's, nets and arrows, Heather and Gustav circled with him attracting most of the attention away from the beach where the Riders were all just starting to take off, while their distraction gave them the time to do so, Finally he saw Hiccup take off and fly away from the beach,

The Dragons from the beach joined the ones in the air, Stoick felt horror when he saw Snotlout held Astrid on Stormfly's back, he didnt have time to find out what was going on as he dodged another Bola and Skullcrusher shot off a fire ball and hit one of the ships below,

'Stoick, we aren't getting out of here, there's too many of them' Gustav yelled as he swerved right to avoid a javelin that had been shot at him,

Windshear and stormfly flicked their tails and barbs shot out down towards the ships below, Barf/Belch let out a cloud of gas and Hookfang ignited himself and dived down into the gas, the massive explosion knocked a few ships away and several went under the water. but the fleet continued to fire

a deadly looking barbed bola was fire straight at Stoick, before a plasma blast shot it out of the sky, Stoick saw Hiccup had reached the circle of dragons 'FLY UP' he shouted, Stoick looked up there was no cloud cover, but they would be out of reach of the shots being fired at them,

Stoick nodded 'you heard the man' he roared, together all the dragons shot upwards, higher and higher they climbed,

it took longer than Stoick thought it would to escape the bombardment, all the riders laid as flat as they could in their saddles, Fishlegs was nearly knocked off Meatlug as a Javeling shot past him, Stoick heard him yell in pain and the other riders called out his name

'i'm fine keep flying' Fishlegs yelled

the arrows, javelins and bola's slowly began to miss more and shot further past them or just fall out of the sky,

Stoick felt the fingers on the rings of the saddles start to chill the higher they went, 'that's enough' Hiccup yelled behind him, 'everyone, head to Berk, stay high and move fast' he ordered, Stoick didn't argue and all the dragons changed direction and headed towards the east as fast as their wings could take them,

Back on the shore Dagur was surrounded by guards all pointing weapons at him, he held his hands up 'whoa whoa whoa, i think we got off on the wrong foot here'

Friga charged forwards 'the wrong foot, you brought an army to our shores' she screamed, dagur tried not to laugh, she acted her part well

'Friga' Dagur looked around and saw Hardkickr getting to his feet, 'know your place sister' he groaned loudly and held his side where the Night Fury had bitten him, Guards rushed to help him stand,

'get off me' Hardkickr roared, he pushed any help away, he looked sternly at Dagur, 'you, tell your men to stand down, now'

Dagur raised his hand and gave the signal for all his fleet to lay down their weapons, 'done, i was going to anyway, i didn't come here for your island' he said

Hardkickr looked at him for a short time and said slowly 'Dagur, you once allied yourself with that Filth Alvin...i'm willing to overlook that for the moment, cos right now we both want that boy Hiccup dead'

Dagur fought the smile on his face, just as they had expected, Hardkickr was falling into their trap

'come with me, i need to be tended to and we have much to discuss'

 **Stoick POV**

After a good half an hour of flying Stoick, who had been flying beside Fishlegs saw that the boy needed help as blood was streaming down his back, decided they needed to stop, he flew up the line of riders as he flew next to Stormfly, Snotlout saw him looking at Astrid and just shrugged his shoulders, looking ahead Stoick could see Hiccup well enough to recognise the way his shoulders were set, something was bothering his boy, he charged Skullcrusher forwards, Heather followed his lead and soon they were flying next to the Night Fury,

'what happened Son' Stoick shouted, 'Hiccup, is Astrid alright?' Heather asked,

Hiccup had either not heard him or he was ignoring them all together, 'HICCUP!' he shouted, again no answer, Stoick growled, ' _so damn stubborn_ ' he thought, again he charged forwards overtaking the Night Fury and brought Skullcrusher into a hover, directly in Toothless' flightpath

'WHOA, DAD' Hiccup pulled back and Toothless stopped barely in time from hitting Skullcrusher, the Dragons all hovered infront of Stoick, apart from Heather and Gustav who joined him by his side,

'Son, what happened to you, why is Astrid unconscious?' he asked,

Hiccup shook his head 'we don't have time dad, we need to get to Berk, i'll explain when we get there'

Stoick crossed his arms and glared at his son, as stubborn as his son was, well Stoick could out stubborn him anyday of the week,

'Hiccup, we should stop, Fishlegs needs help' Stoick yelled as he pointed behind Hiccup,

who turned around and saw how pale Fishlegs looked

'i whole fleet of ships is chasing our tails and you want to stop and chat?' Hiccup shouted

'Hiccup, but the Chief is right, we need to stop, we're already a half hour flight from Hardhead Island, it'll take the fleet at least half a day to get this far' Snotlout called out,

'guys' Gustav shouted, 'there's an island down there'

Hiccup looked around, Stoick saw he was ready for an argument, until Astrid twitched in Snotlout's arms,

'Astrid?' Hiccup yelled, 'everyone down now' he said quickly and together they all followed Hiccup's lead

together they all landed, before Stoick cold jump out of his saddle, Hiccup was already charging to Stormfly, the twins jumped off their dragon to help Fishlegs, Hiccup took Astrid from Snotlout and crouched down in the sand, he called her name frantically, but she stayed still,

'Son' Stoick placed his large hand on Hiccup's shoulder and crouched beside him 'is she?'

'no, she was stabbed with Eel poison, she's paralysed' Hiccup said as he stroked her hair softly,

Stoick saw he wouldn't get anything more from Hiccup right now, so he looked at the riders, the twns were busy tearing their clothes to make bandages for Fishles who was sat in the sand, Heather was applying some ointment to the scratch 'how is he?' Stoick asked,

'lucky' Heather said, 'it isn't deep, hes lost alot of blood though' Fishlegs sat up straighter 'i'm fine Stoick' he said

'what happened' Stoick asked them, the riders bombarded Stoick with everything at once, he heard about Hiccup's plan to trap the stalker, Astrid's injury, Hardhitr's death and then Hiccup being framed for it,

'but there was no proof Hiccup killed Hardhitr?' Stoick asked,

Fishlegs shook his head 'no, Hardkickr was insane, he honestly believed Hiccup killed his father because he wanted Friga'

'why would he think that?' Stoick asked, he looked at the Riders and they all shrugged,

but it was Hiccup that answered, 'because Friga killed their father' he said simply,

all eyes looked to Hiccup, 'WHAT?'

'she told me on the beach, Friga and Dagur are working together, he knew Hardhitr was dead before Hardkickr told him, they're up to something together'

'so she was the spy?' Heather asked, Hiccup looked at heather like he hadn't realised she had been there, 'i tried to kill Dagur the other night, i overheard him talking about a spy' she said, 'and whatever his plan is, it's about destroying you and Berk'

Hiccup stood up and handed Astrid to Snotlout, 'we have to get back to Berk, they'll be coming for us, we need to fortify the island'

Stoick nodded, 'good thing we're ahead of him then, we started fortifying already' he approached Fishlegs, 'can you fly lad' he asked, Fishlegs nodded and stood up, 'i'll fly with him' Heather said, 'just to be safe'

Stoick placed a hand on Fishlegs shoulder and climbed onto Skullcrusher, 'alright, we fly hard and fast' he ordered,

the Riders all climbed onto their dragons, Hiccup took Astrid back from Snotlout, 'fly Hookfang' he said, he carried Astrid to Toothless and got into his saddle, Stoick knew then something had happened between those two teens, not what he feared, Thor, if Astrid and Hiccup had..., before they were married, but he knew there was something new in his son's eyes,

'let's go all of you now' once more the Dragons took to the skies and flew towards Berk,

 **Berk Later That Day**

the sun was setting over the island as the riders approached it, Hiccup felt a wave of despair hit him as he set eyes on his home, all of the new additions the stables, the dragon proofing pipes even the race stands were all nearing completion,

and soon all of them would burn, because of him, whatever game Dagur was playing with them, he knew that Hardkickr would be joining forces with Dagur, no doubt with a little help from Friga, even with their defences and dragons, the fleet was too big with Dagur alone, with the Hardhead fleet added he didn't know what to do, he looked away from the island and down at Astrid, his sense of failure seemed to hit him from all sides Berk, her, the riders he had failed them all

Toothless went into a dive and he along with all the dragons touched down hard beside Gobber's shop

Hiccup jumped off Toothless, the square was empty there were no people around, probably fortified in the hall Hiccup found most likely

Hiccup gently laid Astrid on the ground as the other Riders climbed off their Dragons stretching and yawning, Hiccup said

'don't get too comfy, we're setting off for the Edge soon as we can'

'what why?' Fishlegs asked,

'we've been flying all day' Snotlout said

'you're needed here son' Stoick argued,

Hiccup stood up 'but we need to get to the Edge, we should gather a few of the Night Terrors, they might help us'

'Hiccup' Heather said stepping up and putting a hand on his shoulder, she looked like she didn't want to say what she was about to, she looked at Hiccup and said slowly. 'Hiccup, Dragon's Edge...it's gone, Dagur burnt it to the ground'

all the Rider's jaws dropped open, 'all of it, but how?' Fishlegs asked

Heather shrugged, 'i don't know how, all i know is that, a few days ago i heard a couple of mercenaries talking in a bar, they said Dagur was recruiting, i went to Dragon's Edge to warn you guys and found it burnt'

'so that's why you went after Dagur alone' Hiccup finished for her, he would have done his usual, you can't kill talk, but he was angry and he wanted to kill Dagur himself too much right now

Heather nodded, 'i overheard him talking about Hardhead Island and you guys, so i went to Stoick to get help'

Hiccup clenched his fist and in a fury, punched the nearest thing he could find which was one of the feeding tubs for the dragons, his fist went right through the wood,

'whoa, **Awesome** ' the twins shouted,

'SON' Stoick grabbed his arm and pulled it out of the hole he had made, 'you'll hurt yourself'

'i want to hurt Dagur more' Hiccup said wrenching his arm from Stoick's grip

Stoick grabbed his arms harder, 'that's not my son talking, he's better than that, just calm down and we will talk this out'

Hiccup freed himself once again from his father's grip 'what's there to say dad, we were taken for fools and because of it, Hardhitr is dead, a fleet of ships is gonna come for us and Astrid is...'

Hiccup looked down at Astrid, Toothless and Stormfly were both standing guard over her

'she's fine son, she's alive, Gustav go get Gothi'

'Stoick' Spitelout and the council came running towards them 'the fortifications are completed' Spitelout said proudly, 'we got enough supplies in the hall to feed the whole village for over a month'

Stoick nodded, 'ok, Gothi Astrid and Fishlegs were hurt. do what you can for them' Gothi immediately headed for the two young vikings

'what's the plan Stoick?' Mulch asked, Stoick was about to answer, but Hiccup beat him to it

'Gobber, get every Rider on Berk armoured up and ready, Spitelout, call back every scout get them back here right away, Dagur and the Hardheads are on their way and we need to...'

'Hiccup' he turned and looked at his father, who was standing over him, 'we've already done that son' Hiccup felt the fire that he had just lit burn out under his father's steely gaze,

'sorry dad' he said, Hiccup felt stupid he wasn't on the Edge, here his father had the first and final word,

'help Gobber in the shop, he'll need you' Stoick ordered

Hiccup wanted to argue, he looked at Gothi, who was leaning over Astrid, he didn't want to leave her side at all,

'Gothi will tell you when she wakes up son, Berk needs you' Stoick said softly,

Hiccup nodded and Gobber came up next to him

'let's go lad maybe i got something that'll help you feel better' Gobber limped toards his shop and Hiccup followed,

as they entered the shop Gobber limped over to the other side of the Forge and opened a cabinet, he pulled out a long object wrapped in a cloth and a wooden box,

'if Dagur and the Hardhead fleet is on it's way, you'll need this' he unwrapped the cloth and opened the box Hiccup saw the leg he had designed and the new saddle for Toothless,

he picked up the leg first a single piece of metal with a hook like shape on the bottom, Hiccup twisted the mechanism in the leg and a second piece of metal sprung out and click onto he first one, Hiccup tested the weight in his hand, it was light and would help his agility,

'Gronckle iron, should take your weight safely' Gobbed explained, 'this saddle lad' Gobber stroked the leather 'quite tricky, but i got your sliding mechanism fitted'

Hiccup appreciated the gifts, but he slowly put the leg on the table, 'thanks Gobber, but i'm not sure it's gonna do much good'

'cheer up boy, we faced worse and we're still here' Gobber leant against the table next to him, 'your father will know what to do'

Hiccup tried to feel better but it wasn't working, Gobber laughed and he looked up 'what's so funny?'

'just thinking, there was a time when these were all a viking needed to stop a fight' Gobber tapped his helmet, 'made us look scary, intimidated our adversaries'

'well i don't think a helmet will do me much good Gobber' Hiccup stood up straight, 'this is my fault, all of this'

'nonsense boy, how could it possibly be your fault' Gobber asked

Hiccup began explaining everything that had happened since they left for Hardhead Island, Gobber listened and just shrugged when Hiccup was finished

'well lad...that's a doozy' he said as he stood up straight, 'but it's still not you're fault, none of it, if Dagur and Friga are joined together and tricked you, well sounds like it's them who is responsible'

Hiccup paced some more 'well if i had a helmet maybe i could stop all of this by scaring them'

Hiccup froze, he thought for a seconyd, he shot across the shop to his old desk and quickly grabbed a sheet of paper and his charcoal pencil and began sketching quickly,

'what is it lad?' Gobber asked leaning over his shoulder

'intimidation Gobber, you're a genius, that's what we need, they need to be scared of us' Hicup said as he finished the sketch and held it up, 'What do you think?'

Gobber took the sketch, 'you know i was joking lad, a helmet isnt really gonna end the battle'

'no, but they're coming for the Dragon Master, maybe i should show him to them'

Gobber looked at him like he was a fool, 'so you plan to dress up and scare them away' he looked at the sketch, 'you might need a bit of armour too, that leather jerkin aint gonna do much'

Hiccup smiled, 'can you get started, i need to speak to my dad' he ran out the shop, his mind whirring with a plan, building as he went, it was crazy, insane and stupid, but he knew it could work,

 **Hardhead Island**

The Hardheads were gathered in the great Hall, Hardkickr was laying out his plan of attack,

the joing of the two fleets for the assault had many up in arms

'why should we trust Dagur' someone from the crowd shouted,

'he has the experience of dealing with these Riders more than we do, we'll need him if we are to take that runt Hiccups head of his shoulders' Hardkickr shouted

Friga stood beside her brother her face a mask of sorrow and tears, inside though she was cheering, it was all going exactly to plan,

'Hardheads' Hardkickr shouted, 'rest and eat well, for tomorrow we charge forth to Berk, we will destroy that island of traitors and dragons once and for all'

a loud cheer rang out and Friga joined in the cheering, one more detail was needed and now was the time

'i'm comign with you brother' she said, Hardkickr looked at her like she had just told him the sky was green

'absolutely not, go to bed Friga, you're not coming, father would not have allowed it and neither do i'

'Hardkickr please, i want to see Berk burn for it's betrayal' Friga begged

her words had the effect they wanted hardkickr nodded, 'fine, you will come and watch only, if i see you even touch a weapon'

Friga nodded, 'of course brother, the honour of killing Hiccup, belongs to you and you alone'

Hardkickr waved his hand and Friga's maids walked over, 'take her to her room, make sure she rests'

Friga bowed her head and was escorted from the hall by her handmaidens, 'that is so wrong Friga, you shouldn't be involved, especially against those people' one of them said

'i know, but in my mind i can only see how that vile Hiccup's face, must've looked when he slit my fathers throat, i need to see him die, i was such a fool, if i had not encouraged his lust, my father may still be alive' Friga sobbed,

when they reached her doors, the maidens tried to follow her in, but she held a hand up, 'i need to be alone' she begged, the handmaidens bowed and left Friga, as she closed her chamber door, she wiped her eyes, crying on cue was getting harder and harder and she was sick of it,

soon she became aware she wasn't alone as a figure appeared from behind one of the pillars on the balcony,

'what are you doing here, if Hardkickr finds you, this is over before it starts'

'i'm toasting of course' Dagur raised his tankard 'phase one, two and three of your brilliant plan are complete successes' he laughed,

'success?' Friga asked, 'barely, it could still fall apart'

'how, your father's dead, Hiccup took the blame and we will soon be on our way to destroy Berk, i'd call that a win' Dagur took another drink

'but now your sister is involved, we don't know how much she knows, if she tells Hiccup...everything, our heads will be under an axe' Friga argued

'relax Friga, she couldn't know everything, Hiccup thinks you and i are behind this whole thing like we planned' Dagur went to drink again but groaned when he realised his tankard was empty

Friga crossed her arms, 'i hope your right, if Hiccup learns the truth, we are doomed'

Dagur groaned 'i am, don't worry, soon i'll have Hiccup's head, you'll have your place beside your beloved and all three of us will get our happily every afters'

Friga felt a cold shiver run down her spine, 'you better be right...he is not the forgiving type' she looked at Dagur, who was rolling his eyes

'still not sure why he needs Hiccup to think it's us, Hiccup's first plan will be to get through to your brother, he may even be able to do it'

'again Dagur?' Friga groaned, 'how many times have we told you, we have to keep Hiccup's eye on us and as for Hardkickr, once he has led us to Berk, he won't have the time to listen, he'll be dead before the battle begins'

Dagur snorted, 'why not just kill him now, i'll lead the fleet'

'really Dagur, were you not even listening, the Hardhead's won't follow you, only the Chief and they won't follow a woman into war, right now he needs to live, he can get us where we need to go'

Dagur groaned, 'stupid plan, i dunno why i agreed, Hiccup would have been dead by now if i was working alone'

'if you were working alone, you never would have gotten your fleet gathered, he has been more than financially generous to you' Friga pointed out 'and you would be the dead one if he hadn't spared your miserable life'

Dagur looked like he was about to argue, but Friga held up her hand to stop him, 'no more mistakes Dagur, follow the plan, be your deranged self and don't be stupid, now leave and try not to be seen'

Dagor groaned quietly and snuck out of the room, once she was alone Fruga walked out onto her belacony and stared up at the night sky, 'my love, soon, we will have it all'


	12. Chapter 12 - Plots and Plans

**hello my lovelies, here is the new chapt, i know i'm taking too long to finish it but life keeps getting in the way**

 **Chapter 12 - Plots and Plans**

Hiccup ran as fast as he leg could carry him, Toothless was chasing behind him and he should have climbed onto his back but the blood was pumping in Hiccup's ears, he felt a new hope in him as he formed his plan in his head and by the time he reached the Great Hall doors, he saw everything that needed to be done,

Before he pushed the doors open he turned to Toothless and said 'Bud, gather the others now fast as you can and bring em here', Toothless huffed and looked at him saying with his eyes ' _and how exactly am i supposed to do that?_ '

Hiccup shrugged 'i don't know, just go' Hiccup hurried him off, Toothless groaned and turned and ran back down the stone stairs to the village,

Hiccup took a breath and pushed the doors open, he entered and saw half the Berk Guard and their Dragons

Stoick stood at the hug table surrounding the fire pit going over plans, which every member of the council was putting in ideas for,

'i say they'll attack during the day, too risky for them at night, the Dragon's would have better cover in the dark' Spitelout said,

Stoick shook his head 'but then we'll see em coming, Hardkickr is young, but he's not stupid'

'but Dagur is' Hiccup shouted, all eyes turned to the door and looked at him, 'Hardkickr isn't our problem'

'what are you doing here son, you're supposed to be helping Gobber' Stoick said,

Hiccup walked right up to the table 'when have i ever been where i'm supposed to be dad, look i have an idea, i know dagur i know what he will do, please let me help',

Stoick looked at him long and hard, Hiccup was waiting for it, the old get out and go some place else routine, but it never came, Stoick looked at him, 'you sure son, this isn't like anything you done before, people will get hurt, do you really want that responsibility'

'people will get hurt if i dont dad, either way, i'd rather help so few people as possible get hurt' Hiccup said,

Stoick looked around at the council, 'the floor is yours lad' Mulch said, all others even Spitelout nodded,

Hiccup nodded 'ok, so Dagur knows me, so we're gonna need to do it the old fashioned way, they'll be expecting us to start with the Dragons so we might catch them off guard if we don't'

Hiccup pulled the map of the island towards himself, 'put catapults on these peninsula here, here and here, create a corridor they have to sail down, we'll wait until the last second and open fire all at once, bombard them'

there wasn't any sign of disagreement so Hiccup continued, he pointed on the map where the new Racing Stands were, 'place our best archers and those with the best throwing arms here, we'll use Monstrous Nightmare gel bombs and arrows, Javelins we could do enough damage to make them break ranks and if we're lucky they could sail right into rocks in the panic,

Hiccup looked at his father, who was smiling, 'go on son, so far so good'

he cleared his throat and continued, 'we need to force them all together, get as many ships bunched together as we can and then we use the dragons, throw everything at them, if we can manage that then Toothless and i will swoop in grab Hardkickr and talk some sense into him'

'why' Silent Sven asked, 'if we have their Chief, we have won'

'it's not about winning Sven, it's about intimidation, we take away their forces, they'll be harmless and Hardkickr may be willing to listen to reason if he sees his people could get killed'

'that's not gonna be simple son, Friga and Dagur are involved in this together, they wont have made it easy to change his mind' Stoick said,

'i gotta try dad' Hiccup said, 'for the village, i have to talk to Hardkickr'

'one thing Hiccup' Spitelout said, 'what if they ask for terms first or a one on one duel with you and Hardkickr'

'then we'll have to refuse' Stoick said, 'Hiccup's right, if he faces Hardkickr in a duel, there's no guarantee of success, sorry son, not doubting you' Stoick patted Hiccups shoulder softly,

'we'll do it his way, Gobber, you gather men start placing the catapults and archers, Hiccup, you sort out the Dragon side of the attack'

Hiccup nodded 'Spitelout, we better talk' Spitelout nodded 'aye'

'well, you heard my son, let's see some movement' Stoick yelled loudly

 **Hardhead Island**

The great hall on hardhead Island was full to capacity, voices shouting over one another and Hardkickr right in the middle of it, laying out ideas for a plan of attack, Friga stood beside him trying to reason,

'we should offer terms first Brother, they have Dragons remember, who knows what unholy fury they could hrow at us, Stoick may be willing to see reason and hand Hiccup over to save his people' Friga said

'and what if he was involved all along, why should we talk to traitors' Hardkickr shouted, 'no, i'll not negotiate'

'even if Stoick was involved, he has to offer terms first, as a Chief you both have to' Friga argued back,

Hardkickr thought for a second 'i'll issue a challenge then, me and that stick insect, man to man' he shouted, the people in the hall roared approval

'not gonna work' Dagur sing songed, as he sat at the end of the table sharpening a knife,

'shut up Dagur' Hardkickr yelled, Dagur held his hands up 'sorry was that outloud, do continue planning, i'm just here for the food'

'brother' Friga said holding Hardkickr's arm 'he knows Hiccup, we should listen'

'Dagur' Hardkickr shouted, 'you fought Hiccup several times, you should know what he would do'

Dagur stopped sharpening his knife which had 'For Hiccup's Throat' written on it, he nodded and stood up

'first you should know, Hiccup is gonna trick us, it's his go to tactic everytime, never assume you've got the upper hand and never doubt that the moment you see him he isn't already up to something'

Dagur rolled out the map of the island, 'and he will be expecting us, well me more than you, he'll think i'm leading the charge',

'so let's not disappoint him eh, he is thinking i'll just charge right into battle, so i say we head straight for the docks, he is no doubt planning an ambush, so let's fall into it, he won't be using Dragons for his first attack by the way, he'll save them for a sneak attack, so we'll be hit with arrows and boulders first and when we're close enough, expect an attack from all sides'

Hardkickr clenched his fists, 'so what your saying is we cant take Berk' the hardheads all shouted out 'NO', 'we'll have the little bastard'

Dagur shook his head, 'no, but what we can is take people' Hardkickr crossed his arms, 'what do you mean?'

'Hiccup can't stand to see anyone he cares about in danger, we use the battle as a distraction, obviously you and i will have to be right in the middle of it or he'll smell something fishy, while they're attacking us we send a small group onto the island, we grab the first person Hiccup gives a damn about and it's game over' Dagur drew his knife and stabbed it into the table, 'he'll hand himself over and we kill him before anyone can dare a rescue plan'

Hardkickr shook his head 'no, i won't take hostages, that's a cowards way of winning'

'Brother' Friga said, 'i don't like it either, but we are going against Dragons, as well as their Riders, how long can we hold out against them, it's not what father would have done, but we need to end the fight quickly'

Dagur plucked his knife from the table, 'it's your call Chief, but you can sacrifice hundreds of your own people to get to Hiccup or you can scare one of Berks to get him to come to you'

Hardkickr punched the table and stood still for a second, he tried not to think of how his father would do things, this was his tribe now and he had to do the best for them, 'fine, we'll do it, but no women or children are to be used, Dagur, who is the best person to grab'

Dagur smiled and put away his knife, 'well, one person springs to mind'

Hiccup stretched as he left the Great Hall it was morning and he had been making plans all night with Spitelout, which alone made the night tiresome

he looked around for Toothless and saw the Dragon lying down on the ground at the bottom of the stone stairs as Hiccup approached, he saw his dragon's tongue was hanging out of his mouth,

Hiccup couldn't blame Toothless for sleeping he himself was exhausted, he had been ushered out of the Hall for that very reason and was ordered to go get some sleep, but he couldn't not yet at least,

Hiccup walked down past his house and headed for the Hofferson's, he had been told around sunrise that Gothi had sent Astrid to her own house, she was in no danger the paralysis would wear off soon, all they need to do was wait,

but Hiccup needed to see her before he did anything else, he walked up to the Hoffersons and knocked on the door, Astrid's father Wynn opened the door, 'afternoon Wynn' Hiccup said,

Wynn stepped back and Hiccup entered he saw Ingrid Hofferson sat on a stool by a bed next to the fire pit, 'sorry to disturb you' Hiccup said quietly as his eyes rested on Astrid's still form

'no it's ok lad, we were expecting you to show up, all the other Riders poked their heads in now and then' Wynn said Hiccup didn't look at him his eyes were glued to Astrid

'i'm sorry i didn't come earlier, how is she?' Hiccup stood at the bottom of the bed and gazed at her,

Hiccup heard a slight sniff from Ingrid 'she'll be fine, Gothi said we just need to wait'

'Ingrid, let's leave them alone' Wynn said, Hiccup would have been surprised that a father would think of leaving his helpless daughter with a man alone,

but Ingrid nodded and stood as well, 'we'll be right outside' Ingrid said to Astrid and she placed a kiss in Hiccup's hair as she passed him 'look after her for us' Wynn said and he and his wife left their home and closed the door behind them,

Hiccup stood staring at Astrid, 'well...if only they knew, your father would have cut my head off on sight' he said he walked over and sat on the stool,

'you can hear me can't you?' he said as he took her hand in his, 'i hope you can, cos i need you to wake up Astrid, i'm really in it deep this time'

Hiccup proceeded to tell Astrid everything about the beach,their escape, the imminent attack and his battle plan to defend the island,

once he was done, he raised her hand to his lips and just sat he noticed her skin was cold on his lips, 'when you wake up, i know you'll have a thing or two to say about me being an idiot and how you can't believe you got suckered too' he laughed and reached out a hand to stroke her hair softly,

'so hurry up, i know you'll wanna be on the front line...and i miss you' he was silent for a while after that, he just sat and stared at her, like he used to when he was younger, just knocked sideways by how beautiful she was,

'i gotta go, as much as i want to crawl into this bed and sleep next to you' he placed her hand softly back down and leaned over her to kiss her forehead, 'i'll see you soon and after this is all over, maybe we can go on a date, fly somewhere nice and have dinner under the stars'

Hiccup stood up straight and took one last look at her before he turned around and headed for the door, if he had taken one second longer he would have seen the fingers on her right hand move and the small smile on her lips.

Back on Hardhead Island the fleet was amassed in all it glory, Dagur smiled at the sheer number of boats, true half of them would be sunk by the end of it, but that was a price he would happily pay,

Hardkickr walked slowly up the gangplank to the boat he stood on, Dagur thought there was almost no fun in this and he was bored, he could just slit Hardkickr's throat and throw that moaning wench overboard, take the fleet and burn Berk to the ground,

Dagur almost felt embarrassed for Hardkickr, he held himself stiff, not yelled healed from the Dragon bite and off to war,

'sir, the fleet is ready to depart' Savage came up to him and said,

'goody, give the word to set sail' Dagur ordered,

'WAIT' came a loud cry and dagur rolled his eyes as Friga ran up the gang plank, 'i'm coming too'

'FRIGA, head back now, i'll not see you on this boat, it's too dangerous' Hardickr yelled 'if that foul dragon riding bastard sees you're here then...'

'you will protect me' Friga said, 'i wont get in the way, please, i know it's dangerous, but i want to see Hiccup suffer for father's death'

Hardkickr froze and dagur tried not to laugh, he had to admit it, she was vile, but she could play her brother like a drum,

'fine, but you stay onboard, you hear me and you dont leave this boat until i have a sword to that bugger's throat' Hardkickr said and Friga nodded 'Dagur, what are you waiting for, let's go' Hardkickr roared, Dagur bowed and gave the signal and the fleet began to separate making a path for his boat to take the lead,

Friga walked to the back of the boat and stood beside Dagur, who bowed his head 'nice performance' he whispered,

'soon as the attack starts, kill him' Friga ordered simply but sternly,

'yes ma'am' Dagur said as he kept his eyes on the horizon, it bothered Dagur still that he had to follow this witch, but her beloved had said she was in charge and Dagur wasn't as deranged to break those orders, long as Hiccup was killed, he would have followed a Yak to see it happen.

 **sorry this took so long, no idea when next chapter will be ready, working on it and combing out ideas, please read and review lemme know what you thought, cheers my lovelies**


	13. Chapter 13 - Waking Up

Chapter 13 - Waking up

It was a dark night in Berk, the mood was more than the night, the imminent attack of the Berserker and Hardhead fleet had everyone on edge, even the dragons were tense Hiccup, had already had to interfere on a few occasions, breaking up a fight between Lurg the Liceful's gronckle and a Nadder belonging to unwurrigflacklestacklebackle the Unpronounceable when Drunk,

Hiccup had headed straight to the forge afterwards and was currently poundin the metal for his new helmet into place, Gobber had said he could have it done by tomorrow, but Hiccup after the day he had had, took over the forging, he said it was so gobber could have more weapons prepped for the battle, but really it was so he could hit something really hard.

And he had been busy, inbetween forging the helmet, he had made his new black hard leather armour and gauntlets, he was currently beating the upper half of his helmet into shape, the lower half made of hard leather was on his work bench waiting for the upper half to be completed,

Gobber, who was on the other side of the shop was with Toothless putting on his new saddle, 'yep, that should do it, Hiccup get over here' he called to him,

it was Toothless' excited purring that made Hiccup stop pounding and turn to look at the dragon, he ran out the shop and chased his tail excitedly, Gobber laughed 'i think he likes it' he said as Hiccup walked out the shop with the older viking following behind him,

Hiccup smiled but it was an empty one, Gobber walked over to toothless, 'so here we go, got everything you asked for, locking mechanism, sliding handle, which im still not too sure about and i tried to add in the old tail lever so Toothless can open and close his fin himself, but i just couldnt get it to seperate from the foot lever'

Hiccup shrugged, 'it's ok the locking device can still keep him in the air if we have to separate' Toothless ran over to him and sat infront of him a huge gummy smile,

Hiccup stroked the dragon's chin and then another dragon landed next to him,

Toothless purred excitedly and went over to greet Stormfly and show off his new saddle, Stormfly however, who was usually happy to play with Toothless, just moaned softly and walked over to Hiccup slowly,

'not looking happy this one' Gobber said as Stormfly dipped her head, Hiccup stroked her beak softly, 'missing her rider i'd say and she's not the only one' Hiccup nodded, Stormfly cooed softly and lay down, Toothless obviously got the idea his friend was sad lay next to her and nudged her softly,

'Toothless cares alot about Astrid Gobber, of course he'd miss her' Hiccup said,

'i'm not talking about the dragon boy, i mean you' Gobber limped into his shop, 'you been running round like a headless chicken for the last day going over everything, sorting out defenses, helping the guard with manoeuvers, moving stores to the Hall, but the one thing you aint done is visit her'

'i need to keep busy Gobber, i can't lose focus now, Berk is in danger and i need to protect it' Hiccup argued as they entered the shop,

'Sit down lad' Gobber said, kicked a stool towards him, 'i don't need a pep talk right now, i need to finish this helmet' Hiccup moaned

'no you dont, the talk i mean and also, you can't do anything more to this until we got the spikes finished' Gobber picked up the helmet and with tongs and placed it in water, 'but you need to sit down so we can try this out' Gobber held up the new leg, 'you finished it' Hiccup sat down on the stool and took his old leg off,

Gobber sat down and put the new leg on Hiccup, 'course i did, why else d'you think Toothless has his new saddle on'

'i wasn't thinking, about anything, i just want to get things done so i dont have to think about...' Hiccup stopped talking and looked at Gobber, 'nice try, no pep talks you said'

Gobber laughed, 'i wasn't giving you a pep talk, i was trying to make you realise, it's ok to think about her, you love the girl, only natural' Gobber stood up 'just like yer father, could never stop if Valka were hurt or ran around like a mad man until he knew she was ok, you shoulda seen what he was like the night you were born, nearly ripped my head off when I took too long bringing fresh water for Valka'

Hiccup twisted the new leg and the front of the foot sprung upwards and left a single prong of metal with a hook on the end for attaching to the lever on the saddle,

'i would say take Toothless out for a test flight, but storms acoming, might slow the fleet down if we're lucky' Gobber said as he looked out the window and rain clouds in the distance,

Hiccup walked over to the front of the shop, 'let's hope so, it'll give us more time'

Miles out to sea that was exactly what was happening, ships were being rocked around by the rough water, below the deck of the flagship, Dagur was laughing as if he enjoyed the ride, Friga however was not, she held onto beams of the boat trying to steady herself as the waves crashed the boat from side to side, Dagur just sat on a box smiling all the time,

'are you enjoying this' Friga yelled,

Dagur shrugged, 'life on the sea m'lady, you have to learn to enjoy it'

Friga growled, 'this will slow us down, i wanted to get to Berk before that Hofferson bitch woke up, it wont be easy to grab her if she is up and fighting'

'well sorry to disappoint you, but she should be awake by now and we won't have to grab her, she'll be after you like a wolf coming for a lamb'

'good, that keeps her out of the battle' Friga said, crossing her arms 'he wants her alive'

Dagur smiled 'my my, is that jealousy i hear'

Friga sneered at Dagur, 'why would i be jealous, he only wants her because she is our best way to destroy Hiccup'

'but still if my beloved asked me to not harm another on pain of death if i did, well i'd be wondering, why does he want her alive so badly, she's not bad to look at, one time right she was swinging her axe at me and her skirt flapped up, i saw her tight little butt'

he was stopped by a dagger to his throat, 'stop talking Dagur' Friga growled,

Dagur laughed 'ohhh sore spot i see'

Friga lifted the dagger from his throat 'he loves me Dagur and me alone, don't forget that EVER, he was the one who told me to drug her and keep her out of the way'

'but i dont remember the words, stab her to do it being used, he might not be too happy about that, a scar like that marking that body of hers, might put a man off' Friga growled,

Dagur held up his hands in mock surrender, 'i'll shut up now, still mighty suspect is all i'm saying'

 **BERK - The Next Morning**

Darkness, that was all Astrid had known for, well she had no idea how long she had been like this now, it felt long, but she knew she was improving, it wasn't a sudden thing, it was like slowly she felt tingling in her toes and finger tips and finally she began to come back to herself, she could understand what voices she could hear and recognise them as her parents and friends, then she started to feel things not much at first, sensations returned slowly to her, like she became aware of a warm feeling which she guessed meant she was lying next to a fire or something and quite a while ago, she realised someone was talking to her only, cause they spoke her name and they said they were deep in it this time,

but she recognised the voice, it was Hiccup, she knew wherever she was, she was safe because he was there with her, then she began to get Angry, as he told her all that had happened on Hardhead Island and Friga, if she had been able to she would have hit something, he continued on about how they escaped the island and what their plan as to defend Berk, which calmed her down a little and then she felt something warm and soft on her hand which she guessed was Hiccup's lips

Astrid heard every word Hiccup said to her that time, including asking her out on a date, which made her feel like a pre-teen girl being asked out for the first time, in her mind she began to think of what she would wear and how easily her clothes would come off and she also planned exactly how she was going to beat Friga to Helheim's Gate and back for tricking them,

from that moment, slowly bit by bit she began to get more and more feeling back it started from the tips of her toes and fingers and spread like fire up her limbs, a strange almost ticklish sensation,

now here she was she felt her whole body, it felt hard and stiff, her eyelids felt like they were made from stone and her arms from iron, she tried to move them but they wouldn't obey, it was more frustrating than not feeling them, finally she had the strength and her eyes opened slowly,

her vision was blurry, but she could make out a familiar looking ceiling, she looked around and saw she was right, she was beside the firepit in her home, she moved her head looking for anyone around her, she didn't expect to find anyone, Hiccup had said they were preparing for battle,

Astrid used all the strength she had and pushed herself up slowly, her limbs weren't exactly obeying her, they were slow and cumbersome, she managed to sit up about as fast as a snail,

when she was sat up properly, her head felt light and nearly fell back down. but she shook it off, she needed to be up, she threw the blanket covering her off and looked at her bare feet, she wiggled her toes, she could feel her feet which meant she could walk,

she swung her legs over the side of the bed, her head began spinning harder and just as she was about to stand up, she heard a scream, she saw a great white light and a shape headed straight at her followed by another smaller one,

the larger shape was suddenly hugging her tightly and saying her name over and over again, she felt stupid when she realised it was her mother who was holding her

'what's...going...on' she asked slowly, a pair of hands were holding her face suddenly

'relax dear, Gothi is here, she wants to know how are you doing right now' her mother asked her,

Astrid turned her head in the general direction the voice came from, she tried to speak but again her words were slow and she doubted she was making much sense at the moment

'it's ok' her mother said, and she felt the hands pushing her back down onto the bed 'Gothi says, lie down Astrid, you need to take things slowly at first, your vision may be blurry and you're not talking properly, this is normal and it should pass within the hour'

there was alot of rustling about after that, she felt a hand on her forehead and her mother said 'i'll be back soon dear, i should fetch your father' there were several loud bangs and her mother gasped 'oh you're right Gothi, i'll send a Terror to fetch him',

Astrid just laid on the cot staring up at the ceiling which seemed to be coming more into focus

after a while, Astrid had been staring around seeing things come into focus, she heard the door slam open and she shot up fast, she was thankful she could do that at least, her father and Stoick stood in the doorway to her house, Stoick carried a sack in his hand

her father ran towards her and hugged her tightly, she lifted her arms and returned the hug, her father asked all the obvious questions was she alright could she see and hear him, she answered all of his questions and was glad to hear that her voice was not slow or sluggish anymore

a huge shadow came over them and Astrid looked up 'how you feeling Lass?' Stoick asked, he stared at her with so much concern in his eyes, she almost felt herself blushing, Stoick only ever showed that much concern over Hiccup, she felt the honour of having him care for her burst through her,

'i'm alright, a bit groggy but i'll be fine' Astrid said,

Stoick nodded, 'good, we've been worried about you...Hiccup would be here but he's resting'

Astrid nodded, 'he's been working so hard to prepare the village Astrid' her mother said taking her hand, 'he'll be here soon as he hears you're awake'

Astrid nodded 'can i get up now?' she asked Gothi, who nodded and handed her a sheet of parchment with times written on it and four vials of potion,

'she says' her father said as Gothi wiped the sand on the floor flat and began writing 'take this potion, at those times today, make sure you eat, but yes you should be able to get up and work about and trout...OW sorry walk about and train'

Stoick cleared his throat, 'if yer gonna go out lassie, you need to dress up warm here' Stoick opened the sack and held out a small bundle, Astrid took the gift, it was a thick fur hood, and thanked him as she draped it over her shoulders,

Stoick nodded 'it was my wife's, i'm sure she wouldn't mind'

Astrid quickly tried to take the hood off, 'chief i can't, this is Hiccup's mothers, i really shouldnt' but Stoick stopped her,

'it's alright lass, it's been collecting dust for years in a trunk, i was bringing it to you anyway, bumped into yer father on the way...Valka would want you to have it'

'well, yer gonna be Hiccup's bri...' her father said before Stoick elbowed him in the stomach, '...ightest reason to get on with his jobs'

Astrid had the feeling that her father had meant to say something else, but she ignored it, she was too busy trying to stand up,

Both her father and Stoick, shot forwards offering their arms to support her and she gladly took both, still unsteady on her feet, 'i need to get out, the academy, i want to train'

Stoick laughed, 'well, you'll need this' he opened the sack again and pulled out an axe, similar to her old one, but it had a pommel on the shaft like the head of a nadder, 'figured you'd need a new one, Gronckle iron strong and light, best Gobber has made apparently'

things were getting weird now, Astrid thought, the hood the axe the clear and obvious sings of concern for her health, Astrid was almost afraid to hope for a second and afraid, what if Hiccup had told Stoick about their night together, what if her father knew her virginity was a thing of the past, were they both working together to smooth over telling her she had no choice now, she would be married to Hiccup or face exile,

not a bad prospect of course, but one she would have liked the choice in,

Stoick was laughing, 'don't worry lass, you'll be at fighting strength in no time at all', Astrid tried to smile, she really hoped stoick didn't know about her and Hiccup now being lovers, because if he did, Hiccup had told him or Fishlegs had blabbed either way one of them would lose the ability to please a woman, her new axe would see to that,

as she was guided outside she felt the ground shake as exicted footsteps of a dragon approached them, Stormfly was squawking and clucking happily dancing on the spot,

Astrid smiled, Skullcrusher walked up beside Stormfly and bowed his head to her, a big deal indeed, Skullcrusher tended to show obedience to only Stoick and Hiccup, he had never bowed his head to any other,

before she knew what was happening she was lifted off the ground and placed on Stormfly, but not on her saddle, she was on a different saddle, 'what?' Astrid asked,

'Gobber was finished with your new saddle' her father said, there's storage bags behind you and safe place for the axe to slide into as well'

'this is getting too weird' she thought as Stoick mounted Skullcrusher, 'let's go, the academy is waiting for yer' is all he said before taking off quickly,

Astrid was left dumbstruck, 'Hiccup, Fishlegs, when i see you, you better have a really good explanation ready' was all she thought.

so sorry i been gone so long, had a tragedy and couldnt even drag myself to my laptop, but im back and hopefully you will enjoy what's coming up very soon


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